Penington Institute actively supports the adoption of approaches to drug use which promote safety and human dignity. Connecting substance use research to practical action and empowering communities, Penington Institute collaborates with and represents a broad range of sectors and organisations to identify and respond to specific substance use problems and their causes. Penington Institute addresses the complex issues related to drug use with knowledge and compassion. We not only help individuals, but also the wider community through our research analysis, promotion of effective strategies, workforce education and public awareness activities.

El Penington Instituto apoya activamente la adopción de enfoques que promueven la seguridad y la dignidad humana en el ámbito de las políticas sobre drogas.

Le Penington Institute soutient l'adoption d'approches favorisant la sécurité et la dignité humaine dans le cadre des politiques en matière de drogues.

Penington Institute

Se trata de la mayor campaña anual del mundo para acabar con las sobredosis, recordar sin estigmas a quienes han muerto y reconocer el dolor de sus seres queridos. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

IOAD 2023 theme: Recognizing those people who go unseen

Overdose touches people and communities in many ways.

With our theme for 2023, “Recognizing those people who go unseen,” we honor the people whose lives have been altered by overdose. They are the family and friends grieving the loss of a loved one; workers in healthcare and support services extending strength and compassion; or spontaneous first responders who selflessly assume the role of lifesaver.

We would like to say to these people: #weseeyou. Theirs are the voices we should amplify, and their strength and experience should be held up as examples to us all. Too often, however, they are left to bear the burden of this crisis alone and in silence.

This year on August 31, let’s acknowledge and support the people in our communities who go unrecognized by raising awareness of the hidden impacts of overdose, promoting education of overdose response, and reaching out to politicians to make lasting, lifesaving policy changes.

It’s time to act. Who are the people in your community affected by overdose that you would like to recognize this IOAD?

Día internacional de sensibilización sobre la sobredosis 2023

El Dia Internacional de Conciencia acerca de Sobredosis es la campaña anual más grande a nivel mundial para poner fin a las sobredosis, recordar sin estigma a quienes han muerto por esta causa, y reconocer el dolor de sus familiares y amigos. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

The world’s annual campaign to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died, and acknowledge the grief of the family and friends left behind


International Overdose Awareness Day was initiated in 2001 by Sally J Finn at The Salvation Army in St Kilda, Melbourne.

Since 2001, many community members as well as government and non-government organisations have held events to raise awareness and commemorate those who have been lost to drug overdose.

Since 2012, International Overdose Awareness Day has been coordinated by the not-for-profit Australian public health organisation Penington Institute.


Penington Institute connects lived experience and research to improve community safety in relation to drugs, including alcohol and pharmaceuticals.

We focus on promoting effective strategies, frontline workforce education and public awareness activities. Our work has a positive impact on people, health and law enforcement systems, the economy and society. An independent voice of reason on drug policy, we are a straight-talking ally for practical insights, information and evidence-based action for people in need.


International Overdose Awareness Day is the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died and acknowledge the grief of the family and friends left behind.

The campaign raises awareness of overdose, which is one of the world’s worst public health crises, and stimulates action and discussion about evidence-based overdose prevention and drug policy.

The campaign acknowledges the profound grief felt by families and friends whose loved ones have died or suffered permanent injury from a drug overdose.

International Overdose Awareness Day spreads the message about the tragedy of drug overdose death and that drug overdose is preventable.

The goals of International Overdose Awareness Day are:

To provide an opportunity for people to publicly mourn loved ones in a safe environment, some for the first time without feeling guilt or shame.
To include the greatest number of people in International Overdose Awareness Day events, and encourage non-denominational involvement.
To give community members information about the issue of fatal and non-fatal overdose.
To send a strong message to current and former people who use drugs that they are valued.
To stimulate discussion about overdose prevention and drug policy.
To provide basic information on the range of support services that are available.
To prevent and reduce drug-related harm by supporting evidence-based policy and practice.
To inform people around the world about the risk of overdose.

Día internacional de sensibilización sobre la sobredosis 2022

El Instituto Penington explora el impacto y éxito del Día Internacional de Conciencia acerca de Sobredosis 2020. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

This year’s International Overdose Awareness Day has seen the movement continue despite the disruptive effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report explores the outcomes, impact, and success of IOAD, studies the events and their attendees, and examines how COVID-19 impacted IOAD and how event organisers and participants responded. It also tells the stories of some of those who chose to be involved. The findings in the Partners’ Report are based principally on data gathered from the IOAD 2020 Partners’ Survey, which had 204 respondents.

This is a global sample representative of this year’s 602 registered events in 37 countries. The Survey was created and shared with our IOAD Partners on the 15th of September and closed on the 8th of October. Many of the respondents noted that COVID-19 had made it difficult to hold physical events because of restrictions in their areas.

Una visión para acabar con la crisis global de sobredosis – Día Internacional de Conciencia sobre la Sobredosis, Informe de Contrapartes correspondiente al 2020

Individuos y organizaciones pueden registrar y organizar actividades. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

International Overdose Awareness Day is a global event held on 31 August each year and aims to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of a drug-related death. It also acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends remembering those who have died or had a permanent injury as a result of drug overdose.

International Overdose Awareness Day spreads the message that the tragedy of overdose death is preventable.

Día internacional de sensibilización sobre la sobredosis - 2020

El Instituto Penington analiza el preocupante incremento en muertes por sobredosis, considera diferentes patrones de uso y factores socio-estructurales. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

The number of Australians who die from unintentional drug overdose each year continues its long-term rise. This report examines drug-induced deaths, where the death is directly attributable to the drug use, with a focus on unintentional-drug induced deaths. This report presents key statistics about unintentional drug-induced deaths in Australia from 2001 to 2017, with a snapshot of 2017 data provided in Figure 1.

Opioids (including both pharmaceutical opioids and heroin) continue to be the primary drug group associated with unintentional drug-induced deaths, though there have been significant changes in the types of opioids since 2001. While deaths involving pharmaceutical opioids have continued to rise, and comprise the largest proportion of deaths involving opioids, there have been dramatic rises in deaths involving heroin since 2012.

Benzodiazepines remain the second most common group of drugs identified in unintentional drug-induced deaths, behind opioids, though these are predominantly identified in poly-substance overdose deaths. Since 2013 there has been a significant increase in unintentional drug-induced deaths involving benzodiazepines in both Western Australia and Victoria, and to a lesser extent, New South Wales.

There has been a sharp rise in deaths involving stimulants (including methamphetamine) in Australia since 2012, which is seen in both regional and urban areas.

Deaths involving other prescription medications – such as anti-convulsant medications used as treatment for neuropathic pain, and anti-psychotics – have increased markedly in the last few years, although they account for only a small proportion of all unintentional drug-induced deaths.

Drug-induced death is not confined to either illegal drugs or those taken as medicines; alcohol may also be involved in unintentional drug-induced deaths. When used in conjunction with other drugs, alcohol may contribute to a fatal overdose, or rarely, be the sole cause of an unintentional drug-induced death. Up until recently, alcohol was the third most common drug involved in unintentional drug-induced deaths, though it has recently been surpassed by stimulants.

While a single drug may be identified in an unintentional drug-induced death, it is rare for a death to be attributable to toxicity from a single drug; deaths involving multiple drugs are the norm rather than the exception. Poly-drug deaths involving four or more substances have increased significantly in recent years.

While drug use is commonly associated with younger people, this report shows that it is middle-aged Australians (30-59 years) who have the highest incidence of unintentional drug-induced mortality. Further, the gap between this middle-aged cohort and Australians under-30 or over-60 has expanded in the last fifteen years and continues to widen. Unintentional drug-induced deaths overall are more prevalent among men, with the number of deaths for males increasing more rapidly than for women in recent years. Similarly, the rate of unintentional drug-induced death remains higher for Aboriginal Australians than for non-Aboriginal Australians, and this gap is widening. Finally, unintentional drug-induced deaths occur across all socio-economic areas, with small differences in prevalence observed between the most advantaged neighbourhoods and the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Drugs and overdose also tend to be associated with urban areas; the data, however, reveal that the highest growth in unintentional drug-induced deaths is occurring in regional settings, away from capital cities. This trend poses significant challenges for responding to overdose, as regional areas tend to have less access to drug treatment and support services and may have longer delays in ambulance attendance.

Penington Institute has compiled this report based on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Reporte anual sobre sobredosis en Australia - 2019

La retirada de la moratoria sobre la pena de muerte, que lleva 43 años vigente en el país, constituiría un revés importante para los derechos humanos. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

LONDON [27 JUNE 2019] – Harm Reduction International and almost 120 human rights organisations from around the world – including Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists – published open letters today calling on the United Nations’ major drug control bodies to intervene and help stop Sri Lanka’s move to resume executions after 43 years.

President Maithripala Sirisena signed the execution warrants this week for four people convicted of drug-related offences.

The letters – sent to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) – underscore that the death penalty for drug offences violates international human rights law. The signatories state that “Remaining silent as Sri Lanka puts an end to a 43-year de facto moratorium on executions would strike a blow to the INCB’s and UNODC’s commitments to human rights compliance as a core principle of international drug policy.”

Giada Girelli, human rights analyst at Harm Reduction International, said: “There is simply no evidence that the death penalty is an effective deterrent against the drug trade. President Sirisena’s move is a gross violation of human rights – UN bodies must urge authorities in Sri Lanka to reverse this and work to consign the death penalty to the history books.”

Harm Reduction International’s latest research shows that global executions for drug offences fell by almost 90% from 2015-18, in large part because of judicial reforms in Iran. Of the 35 countries that retain the death penalty for drug offences, only four carried out executions in 2018 (China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Singapore).

Más de 100 grupos de derechos humanos exhortan a la ONU a que exija a Sri Lanka que ponga fin a las ejecuciones de personas por delitos relacionados con las drogas

El Día Internacional de Sensibilización sobre la Sobredosis persigue concienciar sobre la sobredosis y reducir el estigma asociado con la muerte relacionada con drogas. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

As you know, International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) is a global event held on 31 August each year. It aims to 

 around overdose and reduce the stigma of drug-related death, while also providing the opportunity to lobby politicians about overdose and demand better community responses.

IOAD acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends 

 those who have sustained death or permanent injury as a result of drug overdose and works to spread the message that overdose is preventable. Wear silver to show your support.

Día Internacional de Sensibilización sobre la Sobredosis: 31 de agosto de 2018

En tiempos de radicalización de la violación de derechos y amenaza a la democracia, es preciso defender la radicalidad de la potencia del cuidado. Por tanto presentamos esta 

, región de la ciudad de Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, donde se sitúa la Fundación Oswaldo Cruz[2] y diversas favelas y comunidades pobres que son constantemente afectadas por la nefasta y violenta política de guerra a las drogas que criminaliza y autoriza acciones bélicas, en este como en tantos otros territorios periféricos en toda América Latina.

El mundo vive un momento de avance de las fuerzas conservadoras, que en América Latina se expresa a través de la fragilización de los procesos democráticos; la profundización de las desigualdades socioeconómicas; el aumento de la fragmentación y segregación social. Tales dinámicas, en su conjunto, ponen en riesgo derechos fundamentales. Ejemplo emblemático fue la reciente intervención en el barrio de la Luz, en la ciudad de San Pablo. Durante cuatro años se sustentó un proyecto intersectorial inspirado en los principios de la Reducción de Daños, que apuntaba a articular acciones de garantía de derechos a vivienda, trabajo/renta y cuidado en la región conocida como “cracolândia”. En mayo de 2017 se realizó una operación policial con la intención de una “limpieza social”, con utilización del pánico moral para atender intereses de especulación inmobiliaria. La violencia y las arbitrariedades contra personas en situación de extrema pobreza y vulnerabilidad social, rotuladas como “adictos al crack”, siguieron por días. Así, una política pública de cuidado, promoción de la salud y de derechos fue sustituida por la represión y violación de derechos.

Arbitrariedades como estas no son exclusivas de Brasil, y casos similares se encuentran en muchos lugares de América Latina, donde la droga funciona como pretexto para la intervención territorial. Ocurren también otras situaciones de violencia estructural, como dificultad de acceso a políticas públicas, asesinatos, encarcelamientos, exposición a enfermedades infectocontagiosas, falta de acceso a medicamentos y a políticas que garantizan la ciudadanía.

Las políticas de Reducción de Daños, en sus esfuerzos por la promoción de la salud, ciudadanía, derecho a la ciudad, justicia social y derechos humanos de las personas que usan drogas, también sufren los efectos de la coyuntura conservadora. El actual modelo de política de drogas opera selectivamente, criminalizando, encarcelando y estigmatizando sobre todo a las poblaciones más pobres, habitantes de regiones periféricas, y de modo diferenciado a personas en situación de calle, negras, indígenas, mujeres y jóvenes.

Las experiencias exitosas de cuidado son opuestas a la violencia intervencionista defendida por las políticas conservadoras. Las evidencias y la acumulación política de la Reducción de Daños rechazan propuestas que no reconozcan la diversidad de la experiencia humana, y que se sirvan apenas de la racionalidad biomédica y de la criminalización de conductas consideradas desviadas. La Reducción de Daños que realizamos en nuestras prácticas cotidianas, en todo el continente, se presenta como alternativa concreta al fracaso de concepciones e intervenciones dicotómicas y simplistas. No obstante, es preciso avanzar aún más en dirección de una Reducción de Daños interseccional, capaz de articular la defensa de la reforma de las políticas de drogas con las luchas de las mujeres, de la población negra, de los pueblos indígenas, LGBTI’s y de las múltiples juventudes.

Ante esto, proponemos una formulación de una Reducción de Daños inserta en un proyecto despenalizador y emancipador, en el que experiencias subjetivas y corporales no sean objeto de acciones represivas y disciplinadoras. La Reducción de Daños, en el actual contexto, es herramienta potente de cuestionamiento de los modelos de control, implicando la afirmación y respeto por la libertad y autonomía de las personas que usan drogas.

Consideramos urgente compartir nuestras experiencias y resistencias, promoviendo intercambios que consoliden nuestra articulación Latinoamericana en defensa de políticas públicas de Reducción de Daños conectadas a la reforma de la política de drogas.

Institutional Program on Alcohol, Crack and other Drugs of Oswaldo Cruz Foundation - PACD/Fiocruz (Brazil)

International Drug Policy Consortium – IDPC

Brazilian Association of Harm Reduction Workers – ABORDA (Brazil)

Brazilian Platform on Drug Policy - PBPD (Brazil)

Brazilian Association of Collective Health – ABRASCO (Brazil)

Brazilian Association of Mental Health – ABRASME (Brazil)

Brazilian Network for Harm Reduction and Human Rights – REDUC (Brazil)

Intercambios Asociación Civil (Argentina)

Asociación Costarricense para el Estudio e Intervención em Drogas – ACEID (Costa Rica)

Acción Técnica Social – ATS (Colombia)

International Network of People who Use Drugs - INPUD

Pares en Acción-Reacción Contra la Exclusión Social - PARCES (Colombia)

Centro Cáritas de Formación para la Atención de las Farmacodependencias y Situaciones Críticas Asociadas (Mexico)

Associação Brasileira Multidisciplinar sobre Drogas - ABRAMD (Brazil)

Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais Rio de Janeiro – GTNM/RJ (Brazil)

Iniciativa Negra por uma Nova Política de Drogas – INNPD (Brazil)

Associação Redes de Desenvolvimento da Maré (Brazil)

Agência Piaget para o Desenvolvimento - APDES (Portugal)

Drug Policy Alliance – DPA (United States)

Washington Office on Latin America – WOLA (United States)

International Centre for Science in Drug Policy – ICSDP (Canada)

South Indian Harm Reduction Network – SIHRN (India)

Transform Drug Policy Foundation (United Kingdom)

Union for Improved Services, Communication and Education (Ireland)

Teenswatch Community Harm Reduction (Kenia)

Centro de Prevención de las Adicciones de Bariloche (Argentina)

Fundación Latinoamérica Reforma (Chile)

Centro de Orientación e Investigación Integral - 

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (Jamaica)

Fédération Bruxelloise Francophone des Institutions pour Toxicomane – FEDITO (Belgium)

Penington Institute

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