On 31 August each year, International Overdose Awareness Day commemorates the lives loved and lost to overdose and provides an opportunity to come together and take action to prevent it. 

There are nearly 150 hospitalisations, 14 emergency department presentations and three deaths in Australia every day due to opioid use.*

This year, the Mental Health Commission has developed 'Opioid Overdose and the Use of Naloxone' online training to educate people about how they can save a life by recognising and responding to opioid overdose using naloxone.  

Naloxone is a medication used to temporarily reverse an opioid overdose, allowing the person to breathe normally again. It starts working within 2-5 minutes, lasts for up to 90 minutes and can’t be misused.  

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