Alcohol and prescription drugs including common painkillers are causing more ambulance calls in Victoria than illegal drugs such as heroin and ice, new data reveals.

Victorian paramedics attended about 45 patients a day because of alcohol in 2013-14, compared to an average of four people daily for crystal methamphetamine, the drug also known as ice.

The second most common class of drugs responsible for ambulance calls was benzodiazepines; tranquilisers commonly prescribed by doctors to relieve stress and anxiety and to help people sleep. Benzodiazepines, which include Valium and Xanax, led to about 11 calls per day.

They were followed by analgesic painkiller drugs including aspirin, ibuprofen, paracetamol, and codeine, which were responsible for about six calls per day.