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More Aussies dying from prescription pills than illegal drugs, report finds

Jabberwocky

Frumious Bandersnatch
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It’s been revealed more Australians are dying from prescription drugs than illegal street drugs.

Last year alone, there were close to two thousand deaths as a result of prescription pills, a new reports from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has found - which is a rise of 168 percent in 10 years.

“In 2016 there were 1,808 drug-induced deaths in Australia with benzodiazepines the most common single drug type, identified in 663 drug-induced deaths,” AIHW spokesperson Matthew James said in a statement.

“This is followed by 550 deaths from other opioids (including prescription painkillers such as oxycodone, morphine, and codeine).”

The reports also found around one million Australians over the age of 14 had misused a pharmaceutical drug in the past 12 months and the non-medical use of those type of drugs was higher than all illegal drugs except cannabis.

Of the one millions who misused, 28 percent did so daily or weekly.

The report also found people living in ‘remote’ and ‘very remote’ areas were almost twice as likely as those living in major cities to have recently used a pharmaceutical for non-medical purposes.


Source: https://www.9news.com.au/national/2...ng-from-prescription-pills-than-illegal-drugs
 
Benzodiazepines are definitely the most underrecognized contributor to drug-poisoning deaths. It's rare that this reality will make it to the news, given the "opioid crisis" focus, so I'm glad to see it being revealed here.
 
I don't really think this should alarm anyone. In the states, for instance, deaths from prescription drugs have long outnumbered "illegal" drugs. As a matter of fact, I believe they actually outnumber car accidents annually. To me at least, that is truly an astounding statistic.
 
I don't really think this should alarm anyone. In the states, for instance, deaths from prescription drugs have long outnumbered "illegal" drugs. As a matter of fact, I believe they actually outnumber car accidents annually. To me at least, that is truly an astounding statistic.

Exactly, just take a look at the amount of opioids McKesson has been (over)supplying to huge pharmacies in metro areas on down to the tiny, rural outfits across the U.S. The numbers are insane, and by that I mean the amount of pills AND the profits they've been taking in for so long now. I have to imagine similar things happening with other sorts of narcotic medications, such as benzos, etc. Until some drastic changes are made, and I have no idea what those changes would be, I'd expect the number of deaths from pharma, both those acquired legally and otherwise to continue to rise. Hell, even if these mega suppliers were shut down tomorrow, there's still tons of pills floating lining medicine cabinets everywhere.
 
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