Summary

Dependence on opioid drugs (which include codeine, heroin and oxycodone) is associated with a range of health and social problems that affect individual drug users, their family and friends, and the wider public. Treatment with an opioid pharmacotherapy drug, such as methadone or buprenorphine, can reduce drug cravings [1] and improve physical and mental health and social and economic participation, including a reduction in drug-related crime [2].

The National Opioid Pharmacotherapy Statistics Annual Data (NOPSAD) collection provides information on a snapshot day in June 2015 on clients receiving opioid pharmacotherapy treatment, the doctors prescribing opioid pharmacotherapy drugs, and the dosing points (such as pharmacies) that clients attend to receive their medication.

References

  1. NDARC (National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre) 2004. Treatment options for heroin and other opioid dependence: a guide for frontline workers. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing for the National Drug Strategy. Viewed 15 February 2016.
  2. Ritter A & Chalmers J 2009. Polygon: the many sides to the Australian opioid pharmacotherapy maintenance system. ANCD research paper no. 18. Canberra: Australian National Council on Drug