17 drug deaths in Alice region between 2012 and 2016

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Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2018, produced by not-for-profit organisation Penington Institute, says 17 people died of a drug-related death in Alice Springs and the surrounding region from 2012 to 2016.
 
The drug type claiming the most lives in the area is unsurprisingly opioids such as codeine, heroin, oxycodone and fentanyl.
 
The new report reveals sleeping tablets / anxiety tablets (known as “Benzos”) have become a hidden epidemic killing large number of Australians each year, according to a media release from Penington Institute.
 
The number of deaths involving “Benzos” has doubled in just a decade. In Australia, the number of deaths involving “Benzos” has jumped from 812 (2002-2006) to 2,177 (2012-2016).
 
Deaths involving amphetamines (including crystal methamphetamine or ice) have grown considerably in the past five years.
 
Amphetamines now surpass alcohol as the third most common substance detected in accidental drug related deaths. Most overdoses involve a number of drugs.
 
The new report also reveals middle-aged Australians are the people far more likely to die of an accidental drug overdose in this country. In 2016, a massive 68% of all accidental drug deaths were people aged 30 to 59.
 
The people most likely to die of an accidental drug overdose are aged 40 to 49.
 
A growing number of women are now dying from an accidental drug overdoses. Australians are now misusing / abusing prescription pain killers and opioids like fentanyl unlike any previous time in history.
 
 
 
 

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