The number of people dying from drug overdoses has reached its highest number in a decade, prompting health advocates to call for urgent reforms.
There were 584 fatal drug overdoses recorded in Victoria in 2024, up from the 460 in 2015, a report from the state coroner revealed on Tuesday.
Victoria is facing "preventable crisis", Monash Addiction Research Centre associate professor Shalini Arunogiri warns.
She believes drug checking and early-risk detection, alongside rapid-access opioid treatment, can prevent avoidable deaths.
"These interventions aren't optional - they're essential public-health responses," the academic said.
A significant proportion of the 2024 overdose deaths involved illegal drugs, with heroin, methamphetamine, MDMA, cocaine and GHB reaching 10-year highs.
Methamphetamine-related deaths have more than tripled in the past decade, soaring from 76 in 2015 to 215 in 2024, and heroin-involved fatalities increased to 248 in 2024 from 204 in 2023.
Ten years ago, illegal drugs contributed to just under half of overdose deaths, but that jumped to almost two-thirds in 2024.
With heroin identified as the biggest contributor, Ms Arunogiri argues it's a reminder that timely access to proven medical treatments for opioid addiction are still lacking.
"Medications like methadone and buprenorphine coupled with counselling remain the gold‑standard for treating opioid dependence, and prevent overdose," she said.
The Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association says overdose death rates have increased at a faster rate than population growth over the past decade.
Association chief executive Chris Christoforou said alcohol and drug treatment services were unable to cope with the level of demand and he feared deaths were becoming normalised.
Mr Cristoforou also slammed the "misinformed and stigmatising narratives" around safe injecting rooms, despite the area around the North Richmond facility recording elevated overdose deaths.
In 2024, Premier Jacinta Allan rejected an official recommendation from former police commissioner Ken Lay to set up a second injecting centre in Melbourne.
A community health service in Flinders Street and trial of 20 vending machines for anti-overdose drug naloxone were instead rolled out as part of a $95 million statewide action plan.
The state Labor government has since launched a trial of pill-testing at select festivals and is preparing to open a permanent pill testing clinic on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy.
Ms Allan said every overdose death was a tragedy and the state had an obligation to expand access to life-saving treatments.
Governments still weren't spending enough on drug testing, supervised injecting and making naloxone widely available, Penington Institute chief executive John Ryan said.
"Overdose prevention solutions exist - let's use them," the drug research group's leader said.
The Victorian Greens accused the government of lacking the political will to listen to experts on the need for a safe injecting room in the CBD.
"Every day of delay means more preventable deaths," the party's drug harm reduction spokesperson Aiv Puglielli said.
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