DRUG-induced deaths in the regions has increased “substantially” in the past decade, with the Mildura municipality recording one of the highest rates per population in regional Victoria.
Penington Institute’s annual overdose report showed regional areas had taken over capital cities for fatal overdoses.
There were 15 deaths in the Swan Hill municipality between 2017 and 2021, a rate of 7.9 people per 100,000 people.
The report showed there were 25 drug-induced deaths in Mildura in the same period, a rate of 8.9 people per 100,000 people.
Port Phillip had the highest rate of fatal overdoses in the state at 14.1 per 100,000 population, followed by Yarra (13.4), Maribyrnong (12.7), Frankston (11.9) and both Bendigo and the Latrobe Valley (11.6).
Far West NSW was even more dire with 18.8 overdose deaths per 100,000 over the same period.
The report found largest increase in intentional drug-induced death since 2012 were among older Australians, with people aged over 60 accounting for more than one-third (39.5 per cent) of all such deaths in 2021.
From 2006 to 2011 the rate of such deaths was proportionally higher in capital city areas than regional Australia, however the regions overtook capital city areas in 2012.
Since then, the rate of drug-induced suicides increased by 11.8 per cent in the regions, while capital cities had remained relatively stable.
In 2021, there were 1.9 drug-induced suicides per 100,000 people in rural and regional areas, compared with 1.6 per 100,000 in the capital cities.
Penington Institute chief executive John Ryan said despite some recent positive developments, the response to the rate of drug-induced deaths has been wholly inadequate compared to the scale of the problem.
“Repeated calls for a comprehensive evidence-based response to this crisis barely register in our policies and discourse about drugs,” Mr Ryan said.
“A continuing challenge in drug policy is the ease with which supply-reduction initiatives are introduced compared to harm-reduction initiatives.
“Real-time prescription monitoring might unintentionally prevent people from accessing the opioid pain medications that they so desperately need, yet it has been rolled out absent evaluation.
“Compare this to harm reduction measures which are typically subject to time-consuming evaluations and then receive meagre funding for implementation, especially when it comes to workforce development and support.”
MAIN FINDINGS
- In 2021, 99 residents of regional Victoria died of an unintentional overdose (with a corresponding rate of 6.6 deaths per 100,000 population), compared to 315 residents of greater Melbourne (or 6.2 deaths per 100,000 population).
- The rate of unintentional overdose deaths has been higher in regional Victoria than greater Melbourne every year since 2005.
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