AI Insight
Recent data from the Penington Institute reveals that Australians over 50 years old are at highest risk for drug overdose deaths, challenging the common perception that overdoses primarily affect younger populations or street heroin users. This demographic shift in overdose mortality represents a significant change in the drug overdose landscape in Australia.
Why it matters
This finding highlights the need to redirect overdose prevention resources and public health messaging toward older adults, a population that has been largely overlooked in drug safety initiatives. Understanding how older Australians use drugs could inform more effective harm reduction strategies and medical interventions for this age group.
Understand the Science
When many of us think about drug overdose, we picture young people at a music festival or people dependent on street heroin. But the latest figures from the Penington Institute show older Australians are increasingly dying from overdoses.
Source: The over‑50s are most likely to overdose. Here's how older people use drugs