Wide Bay’s grim drug overdose reality revealed in new report

The just released, grim reality of Gympie, the Fraser Coast and Bundaberg’s overdose statistics is all too painful and familiar to recovering addict Jake Towers, who has cheated death multiple times, and recalls the moment he realised things had to change.

Hervey bay resident Jake Towers is calling for better education and more funding for drug rehabilitation to allow more people to recover as he did as the Wide Bay finds itself with an overdose death rate well above the Australian average.

Looking to fill a void in his life when he was 16, Jake Towers turned to drugs.

He did not turn away from them for the next seven years, despite nearly killing himself a half dozen times, something he puts down to a challenge every addict faces.

“The biggest challenge is you’re in denial,” Mr Towers said.

Now the Hervey Bay resident has been clean for six months, and he wants to help those like him, and put an end to the troubling overdose scourge plaguing the Wide Bay; one that is cutting many people’s lives short and extinguishing potential.

The figures are not pretty.

The latest Annual Overdose report from the Pennington Institute, a not-for-profit research centre focused on drug, alcohol and pharmaceutical addiction, reveals that between 2015-2019, overdose death rates for most of the Wide Bay’s major population centres were above the national average.

It reports regional Australia’s rate of unintentional drug-induced deaths was seven per 100,000 people.

In cities the rate was 6.1.

Jake Towers before he recovered; Mr Towers said people were often in denial they had a problem.

In comparison the Gympie-Cooloola region recorded 25 deaths, with 9.8 people dying per 100,000.

At Hervey Bay, the death rate was 7.9 per 100,000 people, and Bundaberg recorded a death rate of 7.6.

Only Maryborough recorded a rate below the average; its 6.1 overdose death rate was on par with the country’s capital cities.

Mr Towers was fortunately not one of the statistics in the report, but he came close a number of times.

The first time he overdosed Mr Towers said he knew what was happening.

“I’d realised I’d taken too much,” he said.

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Then fear kicks in, he said and “you don’t know where you are or who you are”.

He remembered “flashes” of what happened and how he felt when he awoke in the hospital with a painful stomach.

The not-for-profit Pennington Institute’s latest overdose death reveals the Gympie-Cooloola area had the worst death rate in the Wide Bay. Photo Tanya Easterby / The Gympie Times

“Lot’s of shame came across me,” he said.

“It was scary with all the doctors looking down at me.”

It was not enough to stop his addiction though, and it was only after overdosing several more times that he realised what had to happen.

One moment in particular at the hospital that last time made Mr Towers realise “things have to change”.

“The look on my dad’s face, how worried he was.”

Mr Towers has been clean for six months now and described it as “one of the best achievements of my life”.

He was more than happy to share his own advice to those who find themselves where he once was.

There was the fear of losing friends and family once you admitted your problem, too.

Bayside Transformations director Tina Davie said providing detox and rehabilitation services would be a huge benefit to the region, as it would lead to less people in hospital or jail.

Then there was not knowing who to contact for help.

“Put all your pride down and reach out to your closest family,” Mr Towers said.

“Don’t fear what people will think of you.

“Take the first step.

“Don’t be scared to ask for help.”

He called for better education around drug addiction and recovery, and for and end to the stigma that attaches to those entering rehabilitation.

Bayside Transformations clinic director Tina Davie agreed.

Mrs Davie said unlike Jake there were many others overdose victims and did not have family to lean on when it came time to try and end their addiction.

“There are many people here that don’t have family support,” she said.

A boost in government funding would help, too.

Mrs Davie said helping people recover would be a win in financial terms for the community, as it would lead to less people in prison or hospital.

“Having a detox (clinic) … is actually going to have a benefit to the community,” she said.

Mr Towers was a fantastic example.

“He can help change and mentor other people,” she said.

“These guys become lived experience that can help others.”