Eightfold increase in fentanyl-related deaths prompts calls for drug addiction to be treated as a health issue rather than a supply problem

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Concerns are growing that more Australians addicted to pharmaceutical painkillers are turning to highly potent forms of opioids, such as fentanyl.

A new report released by the Penington Institute reveals a significant increase in fatal accidental overdoses because of fentanyl, pethidine and tramadol.

Unless the national approach to drug addiction changes to a health issue rather than a supply problem, more lives will be lost, warned John Ryan, chief executive officer at the Penington Institute.

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“We need better community education for people who are experimenting with drug use before they become addicted,” Ryan said. He also called for improved access to evidence-based treatment services.

Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2017, released on Thursday, showed the highly “dangerous” drug was escalating Australia’s drug overdose crisis.

During 2011-2015, 3,601 people died from an opioid-related overdose – a nearly twofold increase from 2001-2005, according to the report.

Accidental death from oxycodone, morphine or codeine were responsible for most opioid-related deaths, with 1,556 deaths recorded over the period 2011-15. Over the same five-year period, 796 Australians died from an overdose from fentanyl, pethidine or tramadol.

The data shows there has been a “19-fold” increase in fentanyl-related deaths over a 10-year period from 2001-2005 to 2011-2015 in Queensland, while across Australia the increase has been eightfold.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than pure morphine.

Pain specialist Dr Chris Hayes, the director of the Faculty of Pain Medicine, said outside of the hospital setting fentanyl would primarily be prescribed by doctors to treat pain in cancer patients.

“But in the liberal way of opioid policy in this country there has been seen a widening for chronic non-cancer pain as well,” Hayes said.

It is normally administered through a patch worn on the patient’s skin, which allows the fentanyl to be released slowly. “Yes there is a risk of overdosing on fentanyl that is correctly prescribed by the patch,” Hayes said.

While it is prescribed for legitimate medical purposes, it is also sold in the illicit drug market.

Ryan said people were turning to the dark web to get it and that was quite likely to increase when other drugs, such as codeine, became less available.

Last year the federal government announced painkillers containing codeine would no longer be available over the counter from 2018, in response to growing concerns about addiction.

But Ryan said reducing supply did not solve the bigger issue of drug addiction and people were dying because of it.

“The increasing deaths from overdose for basically all of this 21st century shows that we are failing to address drug problems in our community,” Ryan said.