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Prescription drug abuse causes 71% of Australian drug-related deaths

According to a report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the country experienced the highest drug-related death rate in the past 20 years, with 71% of the 1,808 deaths attributable to accidental overdoses of prescription drugs.

Benzodiazepines, used to treat anxiety, were responsible for 37% of drug-related deaths, and prescription painkillers, including morphine and Oxycodone, accounted for 30%. Psychostimulants, including crystal meth and heroin, also accounted for a significant number of deaths.

The ABS said that low socio-economic status, unemployment, major physical illness, mental illness, and emotional stress were contributing factors in almost 700 drug-related deaths.

Stephen Bright, an addictions lecturer at Edith Cowan University, said that deaths from prescription drug overdoses, especially from opioids, increased during the past five years. He said it is common to prescribe a combination of benzodiazepines and opioids but that the combination is very dangerous because both types of drugs increase pressure on the respiratory system and can prevent the brain receiving enough oxygen.

According to the ABS, prescriptions of Oxycodone doubled between 2010 – 2015, and Bright believes that doctors are overprescribing it. He fears that if it does not control overprescribing, Australia could face an opioid crisis in two to three years, like that now occurring in the US.

Bright also suggested that many deaths from opioid overdoses could be prevented if doctors also prescribed naloxone with the opioids, as it is an effective antidote in the event of an overdose.

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