Three deaths from suspected heroin overdoses in Canberra in one week has renewed calls for the so-called heroin antidote naloxone to be more widely available.
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The ACT is experiencing an opioid mortality epidemic as high or higher than during the previous epidemic of the late 1990s, according to the peak body for the drug and alcohol sector in Canberra.
Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association chief executive Carrie Fowler said the deaths this week were tragic and preventable.
"Australia, like some other wealthy Western countries, is experiencing an epidemic of unintentional opioid-related deaths," Ms Fowler said.
"In 2001 we were in the tragic situation where the National Heroin Overdose Strategy was developed after the epidemic had ended, because of failure of the bureaucrats and politicians responsible to act in a timely manner. We must not see this repeated in the ACT now."
A life-saving medication known as naloxone is available at some pharmacies over the counter and by prescription. It is used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose by blocking opioid receptors in the brain. It is administered intramuscularly, has no associated high and isn't a drug of dependence.
Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy manager Chris Gough said in the past few weeks, naloxone had been used to reverse the effects of overdose in the ACT and save lives, but more needed to be done to educate the community about the medication.
"What we've heard anecdotally is there is some high purity heroin in Canberra," Mr Gough said.
"Some other people would call it a bad batch, but in actual fact it is heroin that has a higher percentage of opioids within it."
"The problem there is that the supply is in no way regulated, so you don't know what you're getting. When you have these increases in purity, people don't know until its too late."
Mr Gough said while fentanyl use had been increasing in the ACT, there was no evidence to suggest it was behind the latest deaths.
"I think it's just a slightly higher purity of heroin, certainly it's very concerning."
Mr Gough said expanded availability of naloxone was one of the key areas he would like to see addressed "so we can save some of these needless deaths".
He said it was important for anyone associated with drug users to be aware of critical times when they might be more susceptible to overdose, including people exiting the jail system who were unaware of the strength of drugs on the market.
"We know these are periods that are high risk, and we should be educating people about them."
Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy runs a take-home naloxone training program for drug users, family and friends to learn how to give a naloxone injection. Mr Gough said he was hopeful a nasal spray of the medication would be available by the end of the year, to make the process easier for those unfamiliar with intramuscular injecting.
The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre's Drug Trends report 2018, released on Monday, found 8 per cent of the national sample of drug uses reported being resuscitated by naloxone by someone trained in a take-home naloxone program, while 3 per cent reported being resuscitated by naloxone obtained over the counter at a pharmacy.
Use of heroin remained relatively stable among the report participants, with 54 per cent reporting use in 2018. One in five participants self-reported a non-fatal overdose in the last year. An increasing number reported knowing of and using naloxone.
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre program lead for drug trends Dr Amy Peacock said the trend toward greater use of drug forms described as higher purity was cause for concern.
She said a positive finding from the report was increased awareness and use of naloxone.
"Although ideally, in the future we would hope that everyone who participates [in the survey] knows about naloxone, can access it, and carries it with them in their day-to-day lives."
