Fast Facts

#7

Thousands of Australians are hospitalized each year for drug overdoses and many are children. In 2005-06 there were 6,623 Australians admitted to hospital over non-fatal drug overdoses and 20 percent of these were children aged 0-4years old.

#3

It can take between one and twelve hours for an opiod overdose victim to die, usually from respiratory failure. If someone is in a drug-induced coma and you seek help immediately there is every likelihood they will survive

#9

The number of ambulance calls in Melbourne in 2011 for pharmaceutical drugs (7814) exceeded those for alcohol (6187), formerly the most common form of emergency.

#6

In Ireland prescription pills offences far outstrip those for heroin, cocaine and cannabis. Of 1,500 arrests for drug-dealing in Dublin city centre between September and December 2011 just 60 were for selling drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

#1

Opioid painkillers have caused more overdose deaths in the US since 2003 than heroin and cocaine combined, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

#5

Deaths from drug overdose in England and Wales have fallen in recent years. The Office of National Statistics recorded 2,747 drug poisoning deaths in 2010, a 5 per cent decrease from 2009.

#2

Overdoses of prescription painkillers are responsible for one death every 19 minutes in the United States. In the past 20 years prescription overdoses have tripled, leading to 14,800 deaths in 2008

#8

Powerful painkillers are being prescribed to Australians at increasing rates. In the decade and a half until 2007 prescriptions for opioid painkillers rose threefold to 7 million a year. Over the same period the number of strong painkillers available has risen from 11 in 1992 to 70 in 2007.

#4

The Victorian Coroners Court recorded 338 drug-related deaths in 2010. Prescription medicines alone were responsible for 40 % of the deaths, the second largest group was prescription medicines mixed with illicit drugs (20.4 %) while illicit drugs alone were responsible for 14.8 %

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