August 31st is Overdose Awareness Day!
Overdoses affect everyone. Hundreds of individuals die from drug overdoses every year in Australia. For every fatality, there are families, friends and communities that must live with the burden of a life cut short. Beyond the personal tragedy involved, society must absorb the cost of expensive medical interventions, police and coronial investigations.
To mark Overdose Awareness Day 2011, Moreland Hall is releasing a position paper on the Yarra City Council proposal to establish Melbourne’s first Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) in Richmond.
As a provider of Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment and Education Services, UnitingCare Moreland Hall (Moreland Hall) works directly with individuals and family members struggling to overcome the impacts of alcohol and other drug use. Families affected by overdose not only have to deal with the distress of losing a loved one, but the stigma associated with drug use often affects the ability to mourn publicly without feeling guilt or shame.
The key goal of overdose prevention it to avoid unnecessary injury and loss of life by alerting people to risk, and improving the response to overdose by services and drug users. Overdose prevention prevents harms to individuals, families and the broader community.
Moreland Hall CEO, Laurence Alvis said:
Overdose Awareness Day provides an opportunity to educate, stimulate community discussion, challenge myths and presumptions about drugs and the people who use them. It also gives us a chance to raise awareness within our community about effective supports and help that is available.
There are many things we can do to reduce the toll overdoses take on our community. This can be as simple as rolling someone over into the recovery position and calling an ambulance. It’s an easy task and you could be saving a life.
To mark Overdose Awareness Day 2011, Moreland Hall is releasing a position paper on the Yarra City Council proposal to establish Melbourne’s first Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) in Richmond.
Mr Alvis said:
Since 1988, in Australia alone, well over 11,000 people have died from opiate-related overdoses. Since 2001, the UnitingCare-run centre in Sydney has played a key role in saving lives and providing an access point for other alcohol and other drug treatment. It has consistently demonstrated the benefits for individual users, their families and the community at large. A MSIC in Melbourne is long overdue.
Moreland Hall has previously expressed its support for the Yarra City Council proposal but has now taken the further step of formally setting out its position on the therapeutic and community value of MSIC’s.
I can’t think of a more fitting time to launch our position paper than Overdose Awareness Day. It’s an opportunity to remember the people who we’ve lost to overdose and the families they leave behind. It also reminds us of all that remains to be done.
For more information on Overdose Awareness Activities near you, go to http://bit.ly/OAD2011, or follow the Twitter conversation via #OD11.
ENDS
For further information or comment please contact Chief Executive Officer Laurence Alvis on 9384 8880
