Penington Institute’s Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2026 (AAOR). It is a difficult but critical read.
Shockingly, in 2024 nearly 2,600 Australians died from drug-induced deaths. Of those, more than 2,000 were unintentional. This is the highest rate we’ve seen in the 24-year data series.
The report also shows:
a 10.7% increase in drug-induced deaths from the 2,345 deaths we saw in 2023.
that drug-induced deaths reached almost double the road toll in the same period.
all drug-induced deaths accounted for 76,887 years of potential life lost, the equivalent of 31 years per person.
that the most common drugs involved were opioids (1,083), stimulants (843), and benzodiazepines (696).
that the Indigenous death rate was 4.4 times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians.
These are just some of the statistics you’ll find in the report, which provides insights and analysis across drug types, age categories, and geography.
We rely on support from generous donors to stay at the forefront of research, train workers to recognise and respond to opioid overdoses, and to grow International Overdose Awareness Day, among other important work.
This report is a record of lives lost. It is also a warning about what happens when our responses fail to keep pace with a changing drug market, and when known disparities are allowed to persist.
The findings should be a wake-up call for governments, policymakers and the community.
We cannot change the past. But we can change what happens next.
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