This week Radio National has run two programs on our increasing problem with opioid over and mis-use.
First we have this:
Are doctor-shoppers really at the heart of our opioid crisis?
Tuesday 21 November 2017 5:30PM
Around 600 Australians die each year from prescription drug overdoses, and the figure rises each year.
When it comes to prescription opioid overdoses, they involve members of the community we might never normally associate with addiction.
To tackle the epidemic, Australia is to introduce Real Time Prescription Monitoring next year, but is it enough?
If this program raises any issues for you or anyone close to you please contact Lifeline, 13 11 14, which has a special addictions support service.
Here is the link:
and second we have this:
Prescription killer: Australia's imminent fentanyl epidemic
Sunday 26 November 2017 8:05AM
Fentanyl is the prescription opioid so deadly a dose the size of ten grains of sand can kill you.
In the US it's fuelling a national emergency, making up a third of all drug overdoses there.
New exclusive figures show alarming numbers of Australians are dying from fentanyl overdoses at increasing rate.
Undercover recordings show just how easy it is to get. Hagar Cohen investigates.
Here is the link:
Both shows have transcripts or you can download the audio and listen.
Overall one gets the sense that this is a complex problem, will need carefully thought out solutions and that real time prescription monitoring will help but needs to be part of a wider program.
Hardly a surprise given the complicated causes that have got us to where we are with so many addicted and sadly dying.
David.
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