The state government is launching a Statewide Action Plan to reduce drug harms across Victoria, including in Hume and Whittlesea.
The government is responding to all the recommendations of the Lay Report, delivering on all but one of them and providing more support for services in the suburbs and regions.
Drug harms touch every community – with around 90 per cent of overdose deaths involving heroin occurring outside the City of Melbourne.
The state government said the Statewide Action Plan will increase in services of the most effective treatment option available , pharmacotherapy.
Pharmacotherapy is a life-changing medical treatment, but it’s hard to access in many suburban and regional areas – and in some locations, availability is going backwards.
More than 30 locations will have access to Pharmacotherapy, through a grants program targeting areas of high-demand or looming service gaps, allowing up to 1,500 more Victorians to access treatment.
Naloxone is a ‘miracle’ overdose reversal medicine – and under the statewide plan, 20 Naloxone vending machines will be trialled alongside existing needle exchanges so this completely safe medication can be more easily accessed at any time of day to help people in a life-or-death emergency.
The plan also trials a ‘Never Use Alone’ overdose prevention and response helpline which will provide anonymous care and advice – reducing overdose risk and ensuring emergency services can respond faster if needed.
Currently, cohealth provides assertive street outreach across the CBD.
The plan continues and expands these teams and funds a trial of street outreach services in two new locations outside the CBD, to support more Victorians.
The plan also sees the appointment of Victoria’s first Chief Addiction Adviser within the state’s health system and starts the development of Victoria’s first statewide strategy to address drug harms over the long-term.
The reports handed down by Mr Ken Lay AO APM and Mr John Ryan can be viewed at www.health.vic.gov.au
Minister for Mental Health Ingrid Stitt said, “Pharmacotherapy is the most effective treatment option available – we’ll boost it in up to 30 locations statewide, and we’ll trial a new pharmacotherapy treatment within a clinical setting in the CBD to divert people from the illicit drug market and give hope to the seriously addicted.”
