THE COVID-19 pandemic appears to have had little effect on deaths from drug overdose in Victoria, according to a new report from the Coroner's Court.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Ten people in Bendigo died from overdose related deaths in 2020, among 526 throughout Victoria.
The Coroner's Court report stated that the COVID-19 pandemic did not appear to have changed existing patterns of drug-related harms, despite concerns when it was originally declared.
But peak body Victorian Alcohol and Other Drugs Association executive officer Sam Biondo said more research was needed to understand the situation behind the "straight-up" figures, when it came to the effects of COVID-19.
Mr Biondo said the report's most concerning feature was the persistent nature of the large number of fatal overdoses occurring in Victoria.
Related content:
- Concerns raised around prescription medication use and withdrawal
- Raising awareness of overdose as deaths top 2000
- Enormous risk as drug takers turn to prescription meds
- Community approach can help reduce unintentional overdose deaths
- Unintentional overdose deaths up 137 per cent in Bendigo
- Bendigo second in regional Victoria for heroin-related deaths
- Forty-one drug related deaths in Bendigo in five years
A total of 4551 Victorians have died from drug overdoses between 2011 and 2020.
The number rose steadily from 362 in 2011 to 543 in 2018, then slightly declined into 2019 and 2020, a pattern repeated within the regional Victorian data.
"Five-hundred-and-twenty-six overdoses is a really serious number of the Victorian community," Mr Biondo said.
"I'm aghast at the fact that we ... don't pay more attention to the human waste, and the trauma, and the impact that this has on so many people."
Mr Biondo said failed policy initiatives had compounded the problem of drug-related deaths in the state.
He called on government to institute pragmatic policies to reduce overdoses, even when they seemed counter-intuitive.
Mr Biondo suggested restricting alcohol advertising, barring its home delivery, or even decriminalising some drugs to avoid harms from newly-created psychoactive substances which people turned to as an alternative.
He said regional and rural Victoria also needed better treatment resourcing, such as staffing.
The Coroner's Court data showed the drug-related death rates in regional Victoria were fairly similar to those in metropolitan Melbourne.
Bendigo's deaths in 2020 were in line with the range from the previous 10 years: between 6 and 17.
The report warned against interpreting the variation in data of numbers below 20, because the influence of random factors could create the illusion of a trend where there was none.
Elsewhere in central Victoria, Mount Alexander, the Macedon Ranges and Central Goldfields shires each reported two drug overdose deaths in 2020. Loddon reported zero.
The report stated most overdose deaths were from combined drug toxicity.
Pharmaceutical drugs remained the most frequent contributor to Victorian overdose deaths, playing a role in more than three-quarters of deaths.
In 2020, illegal drugs played a role in slightly more than half of the deaths.
Benzodiazepines, illegal drugs, pharmaceutical opioids, antidepressants and alcohol were the most frequent drugs to play a role in overdose deaths in each year between 2011 and 2020.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark bendigoadvertiser.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter @BgoAddy
- Follow us on Instagram @bendigoadvertiser
- Join us on Facebook
- Follow us on Google News