On a snapshot day in 2022, almost 56,000 Australians were receiving treatment for their opioid dependence - an increase of 20 per cent on 2011 figures. Could we be facing a crisis, similar to the US?
Health experts are warning Australia is underprepared for the possibility of a U-S style, fentanyl epidemic. Opioid dependence has become one of the country's biggest killers with fentanyl and other varieties creating the worst drug crisis in U-S history. So, what is an opioid and why can they be so deadly?