Hospitals and Healthcare

There is little awareness about the consequences of withdrawing from long-term use or high doses of Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan and Valium.

Public health workers say the Victorian government can't ignore the evidence supporting a supervised injecting room in Melbourne's CBD, in submissions to a state review into the controversial proposal.

People in their 60s take an average of 15 prescription drugs a year. Combined with over-the-counter products, they may do more harm than good.

Sarah Hassan says she woke up to news that "broke my whole life", having fallen into a coma due to being given 100 milligrams of morphine to ease labour pains, rather than 10mg, at a Bunbury private hospital last month.

Addiction remains shrouded in stigma, while the system through which we provide addiction treatment in Australia is fragmented and failing. There's no better time to address these issues.

A significant rise in prescriptions of an antidepressant has seen it make the list of the nation's most commonly prescribed drugs for the first time.

The number of Australians dying from drug overdoses has risen steadily since 2001, with about three quarters of those in 2018 unintentional, and experts say stigma and discrimination is to blame as prescription medicine dependence is not treated appropriately.

A decision by doctors to increase a patient’s methadone dose based on a phone consult "contributed substantially” to the patient's fatal overdose the following day, a coroner has found.

Jessica Higgins had a long history of severe back pain linked to her work as a supervisor on a bus service for disabled children.

Having become dependent on opioids, in May 2017 the 33-year-old was admitted to a rehabilitation centre for a ketamine infusion, with the goal of rotating her onto methadone. Pain specialists should've seen the patient before upping her dose, he concluded.

A new paper suggests that death certificates dramatically undercounted the number of people dying from opioid overdoses.

We may be on the cusp of an era of astonishing innovation — the limits of which aren’t even clear yet.

Different chemically than it was a decade ago, the drug is creating a wave of severe mental illness and worsening America’s homelessness problem.

The path to using old drugs for COVID is full of potholes. So why are we using the same old flawed methods when we actually know what works?

Nearly a year after coronavirus wreaked havoc on global healthcare supply chains, Australia is still struggling to overcome critical medicine shortages, leaving some to take drastic stop-gap measures like reducing dosages.

A third of those with alcohol and drug problems who have treatment get better. Can we really afford to stick to stubborn ideas about addiction?

The Premier and her cabinet need to know that drugs don't discriminate and those who have a problem are not 'dopes'.

Counselling Online supports people affected by alcohol and other drugs, for free 24/7. The smallest step can make a difference so let us help you today.

Suspected overdoses jumped 42 percent in May, data obtained by Post shows. Fueling the surge are isolation, economic devastation and disruptions to the drug trade.

In Islam, drugs and alcohol are forbidden, so for Muslims struggling with addiction issues, it can be hard to admit the problem, let alone seek help. But in Western Sydney, a rehab clinic is catering to Muslims in need.

People who use illicit drugs are at increased risk during the coronavirus pandemic. But minimising that risk will improve their well-being and help avoid additional pressure on the health system.