


Drug overdose deaths have risen for a fifth consecutive year, led by addictive medications such as Valium, which has been linked to more drug deaths than illegal narcotics.

Last year, almost twice as many overdose deaths were linked to legal prescription medication, compared to illegal drugs.

Georgia Cheal, 31, died in 2006 from a toxic mix of doctor-prescribed medications and pneumonia.


The number of drug overdose deaths jumped 8.5 per cent to 420 in 2015, marking the largest single year-on-year increase since 2010, Coroners Court of Victoria data has revealed.

In the past five years, overdose deaths have increased by nearly 23 per cent from 342 deaths in 2010.


The data was released with coronial findings into the death of Frank Edward Frood, a 47-year-old man who died from bronchopneumonia "in a background of methadone and benzodiazepine use".

Coroner Audrey Jamieson wrote that the death, "reinforces the immediate need for a real-time prescription monitoring system to assist doctors in their clinical decision-making around drug prescribing... to tackle the ever-increasing toll of pharmaceutical drug related deaths in the state."

Families like that of 31-year-old Georgie Cheal,who's death ten years ago was linked to a toxic mix of doctor-prescribed drugs, can't understand why the state does not yet have monitoring in place.

"It is devastating, I know that other people are going through this and I know that there are things that's could be done to prevent it," Georgie's mother Jill Cheal said.

Although deaths associated with illegal drug overdoses remains far lower than those linked to prescription medications, last year's overall jump was largely due to an increase in heroin deaths pushing the illegal category up 32 per cent to 217, the data shows.

However, pharmaceutical drugs remain the most frequent contributors to overdose deaths in Victoria, linked to 330 in 2015.

Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association executive officer Sam Biondo said there had been calls for prescription monitoring going back 20 years. "If you add up this sort of death level and multiply it over 20 years, how many thousands of people have died deaths that were preventable and who is responsible for that?" he said.

The drug that contributed to most overdose deaths was Diazepam, commonly marketed under the name Valium, which was linked to 176 deaths in 2015 and 979 since2009.

It was followed by heroin, which contributed to 168 deaths in 2015, alcohol (97) and the painkiller codeine (60).

Chronic pain from a car crash in Georgie Cheal's final year of university lead to a dependence on the painkiller Oxycontin, which haunted her for ten years until her death from pneumonia and drug toxicity 2006. Coroner Ian Gray in 2014 made recommendations for the health department to commit to a timeline to implement monitoring, following her case.

"It's horrifying to me that this document exists and the problems remain," Jill Cheal said.

"People don't understand it, they do not understand that you can be seeing the best of doctors and this can happen."

The Victorian government has committed $300,000 to start work on a prescription monitoring system and has signed up to the Commonwealth's software to support the system, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Jill Hennessy said.

"We need to make sure we have the right information and communication technology requirements in place, and that the necessary steps are being taken to prepare the health workforce for the introduction of the monitoring system in their clinical practices," she said.

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