A drug used to reverse opioid overdoses will be made available to more Australians through a two-year trial in a bid to curb rising numbers of deaths.
Take-home naloxone will be offered at more places frequented by people at risk of overdosing under the pilot program, which will be funded by the federal government to the tune of $7.2 million.
The government is also funding research on a consistent national model for distributing take-home naloxone.
Small-scale programs making the drug available to people at risk of overdosing are already running in several states and territories, with the first launched in the ACT in 2012.
Naloxone - which can be injected or used in a nasal spray form - has been used in hospital emergency rooms for decades.
The details of the trial will be established with the states and territories, but the government wants to make the take-home version more available through doctors and centres such as drug treatment facilities.
The Burnet Institute will also receive more than $100,000 to work with the National Drug Research Institute on the key features of a nationally-consistent distribution program.
The developments come as opioid deaths are on the rise, with pharmaceutical options more likely to kill people than illegal ones.
Three Australians die from opioid use every day and 150 are hospitalised because of the drugs, an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report released in November found.
More than three million Australians had an opioid prescription and about 715,000 used pharmaceutical opioids for non-medical uses in 2016-17.
In the same period, 40,000 Australians were using heroin.
Funding for the take-home naloxone trial is part of $268 million the federal government will spend to continue supporting Australians grappling with drug and alcohol in the three years from 2019/20.
The money will go to primary health networks - which commission community health projects - along with withdrawal and rehabilitation programs and peak alcohol and drug organisations.
"Communities can be hit hard by substance misuse. Its effects are felt deeply and can continue for years," Health Minister Greg Hunt said.
"We know that people impacted by alcohol and drugs need to be able to access appropriate support when and where they need it. This funding will help provide this access."
Australian Associated Press
