A SPIKE in heroin overdoses and inhalant abuse have led to an increase in ambulance callouts in Maribyrnong.
Drug and alcohol abuse accounted for 870 ambulance callouts in Maribyrnong last year compared with 831 the year before.
A report compiled by the Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre reveals ambulances were called to 129 heroin overdoses in Maribyrnong – second only to Yarra, which had 212.
Overall, there were 205 heroin-related incidents in Maribyrnong, up from 198.
Slight drops were recorded in alcohol (185), cannabis (30), ecstasy (5) and benzodiazepine (98) callouts, but inhalant incidents doubled to 14 – second only to the City of Melbourne.
The Health Department-funded report, Trends in alcohol and drug-related ambulance attendances in Melbourne: 2010-2011, was undertaken with Ambulance Victoria.
Ambulance Victoria chief executive officer Greg Sassella said the state’s paramedics had led
the way in the treatment of drug-affected patients.
“Any delay in calling an ambulance for any drug overdose can cost lives. Our role is to save lives, not make judgments.”
Researcher Belinda Lloyd said many people were still unaware of the risks of combining alcohol with prescription drugs.
“Alcohol consumption in combination with pharmaceutical drug use causes a significant amount of harm and is a serious issue in communities in the west,” Dr Lloyd said.
“People need to be more cautious while using medication and work out other ways to enjoy themselves without ending up in hospital.”
Turning Point’s head of clinical services,
Dr Matthew Frei, said more long-term treatment was needed to help users gain skills to cut down their use of drugs and stop using them
altogether.
There was a 107per cent increase in crystal methamphetamine-related ambulance callouts across Melbourne, but Maribyrnong bucked the trend to drop from eight to five callouts over the period.
