Report reveals oxycodone and fentanyl use on the rise in regional towns

A waste water test has alarmingly revealed legal painkillers oxycodone and fentanyl use is now more prevalent in the bush than in Sydney. It’s looking grim for regional areas with a number of drugs consumption rates exceeding the city.

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Waste water testing has revealed the use of powerful opioids is increasing in regional NSW.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission found fentanyl and oxycodone — legal painkillers, which claim tens of thousands of lives every year in the US — are now more prevalent in the bush than in Sydney.

By testing wastewater for drug traces in December 2018, the ACIC reported three times the number of oxycodone and more than double the doses of fentanyl in region NSW compared with the city.

The report found oxycodone use in regional areas was three times more than the city.

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Heroin use in the bush was also up compared with December 2017 but well below levels in the city.

The alarming findings came after Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame warned at an inquest last year the state was underprepared for a US-style crisis of opioid addiction.

“If the death rate continues to trend upwards, as it has in the United States, the annual death toll could reach many thousands over the next five years,” Ms Grahame said.

“While we recognise the trend, we appear to have few co-ordinated strategies to address this problem.”

Nationwide, the picture was also grim for regional Australia, with rates of meth, or “ice”, MDMA, and cannabis exceeding capital city consumption rates.

Meth or “ice” consumption rates exceeded those of the city.

The ACIC found Sydney retained its reputation as the cocaine capital with the highest rates anywhere in the country. The rate of cocaine use in regional NSW was also higher than any other state.

NSW led consumption for two other main drug types — methamphetamine and MDMA — while it sat second behind Victoria for heroin consumption. The deadly stimulant ice was still the state’s most consumed illicit drug, accounting for 46 per cent of all drugs taken, followed by cocaine (42 per cent), MDMA (8 per cent) and heroin (4 per cent).

Of the 25 countries with comparable stimulant data, Australian ranks second for meth and MDMA. The national average for “meth” was 43 doses per 1000 people daily.