Media release – Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Tasmanian Branch, 31 August 2023
Tasmanian Community Pharmacies Supporting International Overdose Awareness Day 2023
Today (is International Overdose Awareness Day, highlighting how drug overdose – including from prescription drugs – touches many people and communities in many ways.
Community pharmacies across Tasmania support their local communities through a range of services to help mitigate harms from prescription and illicit drugs, including overdose.
“Our community pharmacists are medication experts and offer a wealth of knowledge and support for people who are being prescribed medications which may place them at an increased risk of overdose,” said Tasmanian Senior Vice President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Katie Hayes. “Opioids, particularly when taken in combination with other medications, are a leading cause of overdose in our communities.”
Recent data shows there were 44 drug induced deaths in Tasmania in 2021, of which 98% were due to overdose. 42% of those deaths were unintentional with 82% of the drug overdoses occurring at home.[i]
Pharmaceutical (e.g. oxycodone, fentanyl) and non-pharmaceutical opioids (e.g. heroin) can cause a range of side effects, some of them severe. Respiratory failure is a serious side effect of opioid use, where a person may lose consciousness and stop breathing. Referred to as an ‘opioid adverse reaction’ or ‘opioid overdose’ this can happen even when someone uses opioid medicines at their prescribed dose.
After a successful trial in selected states in Australia, Naloxone, a lifesaving product which reverses the effects of opioid overdose, has been made available free of charge through participating community pharmacies across Australia, including Tasmania.
Earlier this month the Australasian College of Pharmacy in conjunction with the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care released new Naloxone training and resources, freely available to all healthcare practitioners.
“We encourage our community pharmacists and other healthcare practitioners to undertake the free training to familiarise themselves with the use of Naloxone and to promote its use,” Ms Hayes said. “The product is easy to administer, and we believe Naloxone is something that should be kept in first aid kits in the home.
“Our community pharmacists are able to provide Naloxone, available free and without prescription, to people who may be injecting opiate drugs and come to the pharmacy to request clean needles and syringes, along with people who are visiting their pharmacy for opioid replacement therapy treatment and those who are prescribed prescription opiate medications.”
Harm minimisation is an important part of reducing the social stigma of drug use and addiction. As well as providing clean needles and syringes and free Naloxone, many community pharmacies provide government funded opioid replacement therapy services.
“Community pharmacists providing opioid replacement therapy understand the importance of their role in providing the patient with a clinically sound treatment in a localised supportive setting which is important in recovery from addiction,” Ms Hayes said.
“Opioid replacement therapy can really help a person get their life back on track and new long acting therapies can provide a greater level of autonomy and freedom than traditional approaches.”
