A Bendigo woman has shared her experiences to shine a light on overdoses, as a new report shows more than 2000 Australians die from them each year.
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Narelle Hassett's younger brother, Shane, died from an overdose of prescription medication in 2010.
He was using a mix of prescription drugs that included Oxycontin, tramadol, endone and Valium, which Miss Hassett believed stemmed from issues with his mental health.
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She said the abuse of prescription medication was something that could go unnoticed.
"No one bats an eyelid when you say you're going to the doctor," she said.
Shane was 29 years old, worked full-time and had his own house when he died.
Miss Hassett said it was not long before Shane died that the family realised something was wrong.
"It doesn't discriminate... It can happen to anyone," she said.
She herself almost died of a heroin overdose as a young woman.
"I was highly addicted, I overdosed at one point in Footscray and I got revived by naloxone," she said.
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Monday, August 31 marks International Overdose Awareness Day.
Australia's Annual Overdose Report, released by the Penington Institute, shows 2070 people died from overdose in 2018 - the fifth straight year the toll peaked above 2000.
Unintentional overdoses accounted for more than 75 per cent of those deaths.
Opioids were involved in over half of these deaths. Benzodiazepines and stimulants were the next most common drugs.
The rate of unintentional overdose deaths is higher in regional areas than in cities.
Men are almost three times more likely than women to die of an accidental overdose, as are Aboriginal people compared to non-Indigenous people.
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Penington Institute chief executive officer John Ryan said the organisation was calling on the federal government to commit to a national prevention strategy.
The Penington Institute also wants take home naloxone trial - which gives people in NSW, Western Australia and South Australia access to the life-saving drug without a prescription if they might experience or witness an opioid overdose - expanded across the country.
"Thirdly, the Commonwealth must be realistic about the planned roll-out of national real-time prescription monitoring...Real-time prescription monitoring carries real risks of locking people out of receiving the care they need and diverting them to unsafe illicit drugs," Mr Ryan said.
As a result of her brother's death, Miss Hassett said she would like to see greater access to detox and rehabilitation facilities.
People could wait two years to access such a facility, she said, and the bill could top $20,000.
Miss Hassett said she believed her brother would still be alive, had his family been able to get him into a secure rehabilitation facility.
She also thinks a greater focus on rehabilitation in response to drug-related crimes would help address the problem.
She said a lot of people turned to substances because of their mental health issues.
"I believe if Shane had've not been depressed, if he could have been fixed in that way... He would have made it through," Miss Hassett said.