By ALESHA CAPONE
A NORTH-WEST outreach team offering a mobile drug safety service has expressed concern about prescription drug overdoses and called for more funding to tackle the issue.
The not-for-profit Youth Projects service covers 40 suburbs including parts of the Brimbank and Maribyrnong municipalities.
Chair of the group Melanie Raymond said at least three Australians died from drug overdoses every day, with the majority involving prescribed substances or mixing drugs.
“For Youth Projects, we can do so much more at a grass roots level but have very limited funding to expand our services – even though there is a huge cost saving by or intervention on all fronts,” Ms Raymond said.
Ms Raymond said Youth Projects peer-to-peer mentoring You Only Live Once program was an example of a “very effective but not funded” program which helped educate teenagers about drug use.
“Outreach teams work at the pointy end of this issue, when people are most at need and least likely to have had any help – it is a critical point of referral and support that would not otherwise exist,” she said.
“Earlier education about the harms involved, realistic advice about drug use, party drugs and the long term and highly addictive properties needs to be more widespread to a young audience.
“There is a false sense of security because the drug has been prescribed by a doctor and is legal, but it is only safe if taken properly and not in combination with other substances.”
Ms Raymond said apart from prescription drugs, Youth Projects has seen an increased usage in of ecstasy and amphetamines across the past 12 months.
She said Youth Projects’s busiest areas were Glenroy and Broadmeadows, but the team also often attends Keilor and Footscray.
“We can tell from the number of calls and number of clean injecting equipment, such as syringes, that we distribute that demand is rising – and it is the reason this service has been extended to run throughout the night,” she said.
Ms Raymond said areas with high unemployment, welfare dependency and low educational attainment could become vulnerable to drug use “due to the stresses and strains of poverty and despair”.
Contact Youth Projects on 9304 9100 or the foot patrol on 1800 700 102 for help.
