FDS Insight Magazine Jun - Sep 2023

23 Top 10 countries with the most opioid overdose deaths Rank Country No. of deaths from opioid overdoses in 2000 No. of deaths from opioid overdoses in 2019 % increase No. of deaths from opioid overdoses in 2019 per 100,000 people 1 United States 8,229 54,631 564% 16.61 2 Canada 1,031 2,656 158% 7.10 3 Australia 1,187 1,355 14% 5.38 4 Russia 8,298 6,208 -25% 4.25 5 United Arab Emirates 94 385 310% 3.94 6 Estonia 34 51 50% 3.88 7 Lithuania 64 81 27% 2.93 8 Belarus 296 269 -9% 2.85 9 Kazakhstan 383 479 25% 2.58 10 Finland 89 133 49% 2.40 More than three in five of these deaths were men, and more than three quarters occurred in the home. Australian Alcohol and other Drugs Council chief executive Melanie Walker said 200,000 people received alcohol and drug treatment each year in Australia. Naloxone is a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. Picture: Twitter ‘(But) up to another 500,000 people are missing out due to a current lack of funding and capacity in the sector,’ she said. ‘In order to save lives, governments need to ensure that people who need drug treatment are able to access it.’ Experts say these statistics further reinforce the need to invest in drug treatment and harm reduction services to help keep the community safe. The effects of an opioid overdose can be reversed if a medicine called naloxone is administered, a medication which is funded by the Australian government and can be given to anyone for free and without a prescription.