Legal drugs cause most Melbourne overdoses - AAP, 08.05.2012

[Mr Blonde]

ALCOHOL and prescription drug abuse resulted in more than 14,000 ambulance call-outs for overdoses in Melbourne last year, a new report said.

Also, the city's use of crystal methamphetamine (ice) is sky-rocketing, with metropolitan paramedics responding to 282 calls for people on the drug in 2010-2011, compared to 136 the previous year.

Ambulance Victoria figures released today show alcohol remains the city's single biggest troublemaking drug, with 6946 call-outs for suspected overdoses in 2010-11, up 12 per cent from 6187 in 2009-10.

Benzodiazepines, commonly prescribed for sleeping and anxiety issues, were the second greatest cause, prompting 3135 emergency calls throughout Melbourne.

The statistics, released as part of Eastern Health's Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre report, show that while call-outs for illegal drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine have dropped, legal drugs - particularly prescription medication - are causing harm at an alarming rate.

Turning Point researcher Belinda Lloyd said the risky use of prescription drugs demanded notice.

"While much attention is paid to illicit substances, we should also be mindful of the potential health problems that excessive consumption of prescription medication can cause," Dr Lloyd said.

Ambulance Victoria CEO Greg Sassella said non-fatal drug overdoses made up about 10 per cent of paramedics' total workload, with about 25,000 call-outs a year.

Overdose cases strained the already stressed ambulance resources, he said, as intoxicated patients were often unpredictable, and many - particularly those affected by alcohol mixed with other drugs - could become aggressive towards paramedics.

Turning Point's director, Professor Dan Lubman, said drug abuse was prevalent across all age groups, with the figures representing only a tiny snapshot of the community's woes.

"Of the amount of people putting themselves in harm's way, only a small proportion of those will actually (involve an ambulance), so it's actually an indicator of a much bigger community population problem," he said.

The report will be used to focus future drug awareness campaigns, with Prof Lubman saying there is a need to combat an attitude in the community that tolerates, and even encourages, getting wasted.

"We're living more and more in a culture where intoxication is socially acceptable, and actually embraced and sought after," he said.

Mr Sassella said people should never hesitate to call 000 in a suspected overdose.

"Any delay in calling an ambulance for any drug overdose can cost lives. Our role is to save lives, not make judgments," he said.

Link.

 

[ayjay]

Full report on Turning Point website - big doc (9+ Mb).

Interestingly - their media release focuses on rise in ice-related call-outs.

But yeah booze continues to be the big one

 

[wazza]

And a chart from theage

 

[Mr Blonde]

^ I like that they distinguished between non-opioid and opioid analgesics. Thanks for posting that.

 

[brimmy]

Wtf 1000 people a year in Vic get taken by ambos for cannabis? I'm also surprised by the amount of people getting taken away for benzos also (could someone elaborate on that? I didn't think benzos were that bad).

 

[The-Future]

Yeah benzo overdose so high wtf?

 

[Divine Moments]

Having not read it (please correct me if I'm wrong) I assume it's because they are widely available and commonly taken in combination with other drugs

 

[Mr Blonde]

^ This. Benzodiazepines are fairly safe by themselves, but combined with other CNS depressants like alcohol, opioids, et cetera, they can be quite dangerous. Also, though they are safer in overdose then barbiturates this is probably not widely known among the general public and I imagine things like people who have used more then they bargained for and intentional overdoses for self-harm/suicide would account for some of the numbers.

 

[psytaco]

^ This. Benzodiazepines are fairly safe by themselves, but combined with other CNS depressants like alcohol, opioids, et cetera, they can be quite dangerous. Also, though they are safer in overdose then barbiturates this is probably not widely known among the general public and I imagine things like people who have used more then they bargained for and intentional overdoses for self-harm/suicide would account for some of the numbers.

Yeah I agree. If you have a look at the main prescription drugs overdosed on, many I think would be an attempt at suicide.

The cannabis one is funny too. probably just some dudes getting really stoned and freaking out. or overly concerned parents. not like anyone was suffering actual physical harm.

 

[Mr Blonde]

^ Regarding the cannabis statistics, I wonder if they include call outs involving synthetic cannabinoids under that bracket as well?

 

[drug_mentor]

^ It would be pretty stupid to include synthetic cannabanoids with cannabis and not even bother to make a distinction, but that doesn't mean they haven't gone and done it anyway. I do find the idea that there are roughly 3 ambulance call outs per day for cannabis in Victoria alone pretty darn hard to believe.

 

[acidprime]

Has to be a BS number, unless of course its poly drug use.. Ice head been smoking pot, goes all paranoid etc.

how much of those stats is poly drug :/

 

[spacejunk]

i'm not that surprised to see antidepressants so far up the list, but it's interesting that it is not more of a talking point, considering how easily obtained they are. i often seem to be arguing against doctors prescribing them, unlike most of the other prescription drugs on that list.
again, a very broad category, but surely a subject worthy of community discussion as well?
if we're going to talk about harm caused by benzos but leave out the antidepressants - and talk about the rise in ambulance call-outs involving amphetamines - which result in less than half the ambulance calls antidepressants do.
is it just me, or is that a little odd?

talk about a black-spot. the corporate media might give you the illusion of balance (article about legal drugs causing more harm than illicit) but they're manipulative til the end, and they look after their own; industry interests.
demonise those problematic benzodiazepines (which are a very useful treatment for many, but pose the dilemma of being widely used in recreational or risky ways) all you like, but don't say anything bad about the lucrative SSRIs...you wouldn't want to cause a panic that would make their share price drop.

as for the absence of any analysis of alcohol's top ranking, in the article...does it really not rate a mention?

call me cynical, but i wonder how many alcohol advertisements (and those for pubs, clubs and bottle shops) the newspaper/s that printed this story will run?
maybe it just isn't worth mentioning the obvious fact that alcohol causes more emergency situations than other drugs.
it's hard to know what the figures are referring to - do they include indirect harm caused by drugs, like a drunk bashing someone? car accidents?

if we assume that "drug incidents" refers to ambulance calls related to acute effects of overconsumption, it doesn't seem as obvious, not to me anyway. i don't really know anyone that has had to call an ambulance after drinking too much unless they hurt themselves whilst drunk.

if the article was referring to 'legal highs' like dodgy party pills and synthetic cannabinoids causing the most emergency call-outs, i wouldn't necessarily doubt it - but it seems like much of the press (and/or some authorities) in this country is well behind the times regarding the widespread use of research chems. their lack of representation in this table/article makes me a little dubious of the whole thing.

i get the feeling that the RC media circus hasn't kicked into full swing yet over here.

sorry about the rant but the australian press is fucking contemptible and it scares me how many people take it at face value.
don't believe the hype!

 

[Mr Blonde]

^ It would be pretty stupid to include synthetic cannabanoids with cannabis and not even bother to make a distinction, but that doesn't mean they haven't gone and done it anyway. I do find the idea that there are roughly 3 ambulance call outs per day for cannabis in Victoria alone pretty darn hard to believe.

I would have thought they would have separated them too but I suppose I should go look at the actual report and see if there are more details there.

Has to be a BS number, unless of course its poly drug use.. Ice head been smoking pot, goes all paranoid etc.

how much of those stats is poly drug :/

That's a good point, I wonder if this is the reason the numbers are so high?

 

[Crankinit]

I think a lot of people underestimate the ability cannabis has to induce anxiety in some people. Given how widely used it is, and how often panic attacks are mistaking for 'oh god I'm dying!' the number makes sense.

I'd say the antidepressant numbers/anti-psychotic/benzo/analgesic numbers are at least partially connected to suicide attempts, it's a shame they didn't give numbers because there's a big difference between 'someone was taking X drug and it caused problems' and 'someone decided to try kill themself and used X drug because it was on hand at the time.'

 

[footscrazy]

Also, the city's use of crystal methamphetamine (ice) is sky-rocketing with metropolitan paramedics responding to 282 calls for people on the drug in 2010-2011, compared to 136 the previous year.

A bit of hyperbole there, I hardly think an increase of 146 callouts constitutes 'sky rocketing' use. It's a bit flimsy to suggest more callouts are caused by more use as well, it could be correlated with other factors such as increasing purity, a new cut, and so on.

Ambulance Victoria CEO Greg Sassella said non-fatal drug overdoses made up about 10 per cent of paramedics' total workload, with about 25,000 call-outs a year.

Overdose cases strained the already stressed ambulance resources, he said, as intoxicated patients were often unpredictable, and many - particularly those affected by alcohol mixed with other drugs - could become aggressive towards paramedics.

Whilst there's no doubt a great need for more harm reduction education so that many of these situations requiring ambulance callouts are prevented in the first place, I think it's commendable that people putting others' safety before selfish concerns, and calling an ambulance, is so widespread.

Interesting stats nonetheless and I generally have a lot of respect for the work Turning Point does.

 

[spacejunk]

I'd say the antidepressant numbers/anti-psychotic/benzo/analgesic numbers are at least partially connected to suicide attempts, it's a shame they didn't give numbers because there's a big difference between 'someone was taking X drug and it caused problems' and 'someone decided to try kill themself and used X drug because it was on hand at the time.'

yeah, i agree. i suppose it is a step up from the sorts of drug studies/reports/articles that don't acknowledge the large bulk of drug-related harms being caused by your 'everyday' drugs (booze, benzos, anti depressants, non-opioid analgesics) and instead focus on the prohibited ones.

the way these statistics are interpreted depends a lot on the context, so it's a shame that so much of what we hear is filtered through the media and twisted into their ideological message. i assume that it is a simplified set of numbers from some far more comprehensive data.

the table wazza posted above raises so many interesting questions, but i guess at the end of the day an OD is an OD whether it was intentional or not....an anxiety attack from smoking or injesting too much weed may not be life threatening, but an overdose of panadol certainly is, and they are both represented the same way in the table.
kinda weird, but interesting nonetheless.

 

[Crankinit]

Yeah it's a step above most media representations of drug use/overdose, but they could still clarify on a lot more.

 

[brimmy]

A bit of hyperbole there, I hardly think an increase of 146 callouts constitutes 'sky rocketing' use. It's a bit flimsy to suggest more callouts are caused by more use as well, it could be correlated with other factors such as increasing purity, a new cut, and so on.




Whilst there's no doubt a great need for more harm reduction education so that many of these situations requiring ambulance callouts are prevented in the first place, I think it's commendable that people putting others' safety before selfish concerns, and calling an ambulance, is so widespread.

Interesting stats nonetheless and I generally have a lot of respect for the work Turning Point does.

Well it is more then double that of last year so I'd call that a pretty big increase...

 

[Sustanon]

I think a lot of people underestimate the ability cannabis has to induce anxiety in some people. Given how widely used it is, and how often panic attacks are mistaking for 'oh god I'm dying!' the number makes sense.

I'd say the antidepressant numbers/anti-psychotic/benzo/analgesic numbers are at least partially connected to suicide attempts, it's a shame they didn't give numbers because there's a big difference between 'someone was taking X drug and it caused problems' and 'someone decided to try kill themself and used X drug because it was on hand at the time.'

I find cannabis on the chart so high amusing, I mean in reality most people do the exact thing u mentioned "Oh my god Im dying". This happened with a mate of mine when him and his gf tripped on shrooms. They called the ambulance thinking something was wrong. The ambos then proceeded to tell them not to worry and even laughed saying "you guys are just tripping, it'll wear off". These people should not indulge in any form of psychedelics or even cannabis. What's concerning and alarming is the rate of benzo call outs. There must be an awful lot of people abusing the shit out of them and combining them with other things that could be dangerous. I just wish people would be more educated on poly drug use and the amount they take.