Increased drug education is needed
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has just released their 2016 Causes of Death report.
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The alarming point for me is the 1,808 lives we lost due to drugs – which is at a 20 year high.
Drug overdoses brings with it the image of an addict shooting heroin into their veins with a needle.
In 1999 this profile was accurate when the drug user dying was a person in their early 30s.
Move forward to 2016 and nothing could be more different.
Those losing their lives are more likely to be a middle-aged male, living outside a capital city, misusing prescription drugs, with an accidental death.
This tells me that we need comprehensive drug education at all levels, not just with our kids.
Drugs and their effects need to be talked about at schools, in the home and in the workplace.
In the workplace, we pick up all the adults who were not given any decent drug education at school.
With so many prescription drugs on the market we must educate people on their effects and highly addictive nature.
Everyone knows about heroin, LSD and marijuana.
But what about ‘legal’ prescription drugs such as benzodiazepines and highly addictive painkillers such as Oxycodone, codeine and Endone that doctors prescribe after accidents, operations and even sporting injuries?
These drugs can turn the average trusting person into an unwitting drug addict, locked in a vicious spiral of pain.
The National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2016 (AIHW, 2017b) found that males were more likely to misuse illicit drugs, as well as misuse of pharmaceuticals.
We hear a lot in the news about methamphetamines (ice) and deaths from this drug have increased 4-fold since 1999.
But the growing killer is prescription drugs and painkillers.
The Drug Free Ambassadors Australia educates on a wide spectrum of drugs and we want to let everyone know that we have excellent tools that can be used by anyone to educate their families and loved ones.
We have 14 booklets covering all major drugs – including a booklet on misuse of prescription drugs and one specifically on painkillers.
We also have a DVD Truth About Drugs: Real People Real Stories with a chapter on each drug, with former users telling their story and sharing their experiences.
We provide all our materials free – either the hard copy version or you can download and read and watch the content online and download all the booklets.
Start the conversation at home with your kids and your adult family and friends.
All of us know someone who has issues with drugs – legal or illicit.
Your actions may very well save a life. Share it with your friends on social media so they get educated for real.
We need fully informed people who can have educated conversations with their doctors about their medication to limit any possibility of addiction and other alternatives.
For those already in the grip of some form of prescription drug addiction, there are medical professionals who specialise in helping people come off as these drugs requires proper medical supervision to withdraw from.
Don’t try it on your own as these drugs can often be worse to come off than heroin.
For free materials email me at info@drugfreeamabssadors.org.au or go online to www.drugfreeworld.org
Judee O’Leary
Queensland Coordinator
Drug Free Ambassadors Australia
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
