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

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?

International Overdose Awareness Day 2023

The pace of change across the world in the understanding of cannabis and its regulation and management has accelerated dramatically in recent years. Many jurisdictions are providing regulated access rather than simple prohibition with medicinal cannabis now mainstream in many countries. In Australia a shift to diversion from the criminal justice system more than 20 years ago was led by the Howard Government. More recently, significant reform to enable national medicinal cannabis access was introduced by the Abbott Government. 

The Australian community’s perspective continues to evolve but is sometimes undermined by a lack of access to evidence, misunderstanding and even misinformation. Penington Institute is committed to improving the management of drugs through community engagement and knowledge sharing and so I am pleased to share with you Penington Institute’s latest report, Cannabis in Australia 2022. Our inaugural report on cannabis presents the findings from many months of research and around 100 expert interviews, which we have condensed into a concise overview of cannabis use in Australia today. 

In the landscape of psychoactive drugs, cannabis occupies a unique place. Once considered enemy number-one by proponents of the ‘war on drugs’, cannabis is still illegal to possess or use without a medical prescription in Australia, with the limited exception of the ACT. Despite its legal status, cannabis is readily available with more than a third of Australians over the age of 14 admitting to having used it. 

Compared to other common drugs, cannabis has a low harm profile with negative health impacts less than those associated with nicotine and alcohol. In the context of medicinal use, the potential for serious side effects such as dependence pales into insignificance when considered alongside the painkillers and sleeping pills that are routinely prescribed across Australia. 

Cannabis can have negative consequences including a risk of dependence for some people, however the demonstrated harms and enormous financial burden associated with Australia’s simplistic prohibition approach is much more harmful than the substance itself. 

Since 2010-11, there have been 702,866 cannabis-related arrests in Australia, more than 90 per cent of which were for personal use or possession. In 2019-2020, nearly half of all drug-related arrests (46.1 per cent) were for cannabis. 

Then there is the economic question. While we invest taxpayer dollars on a prohibition model – more than $1.7 billion on cannabis-related law enforcement was spent in 2015-16 – Australians in need are too often unable to afford medicinal access. The quality of Australian-grown cannabis is world-standard, but our farmers are forced to stand by and watch as producers in North America and elsewhere seize the markets that could be theirs, including our domestic market. Onerous regulations and a lack of government investment are holding the Australian industry back from this significant opportunity. 

This report aims to promote understanding of cannabis in Australia. At the forefront of discussion should be the questions of how to improve medicinal access for those who need it and how we can better reduce the harm caused by our laws and the substance itself as we progress toward a more informed and compassionate community. 

Cannabis in Australia

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.

International Overdose Awareness Day 2022

Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2021

 reveals that there have been 34,728 overdose deaths in Australia since the turn of the century.

That figure includes 2,227 overdose deaths in 2019, 1,644 of which were unintentional.

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.

A vision to end the global overdose crisis - International Overdose Awareness Day Partners' Report 2020

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are dying from drug overdoses at three times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians, according to Australia's Annual Overdose report.

The report, published by drug and alcohol research centre, the Pennington Institute, showed that 473 Indigenous people died of unintentional overdoses between 2014 to 2018.

In 2018, there were 17.3 unintentional overdose deaths per 100,000 Indigenous Australians.

This rate had almost doubled since 2009 and compared to 6.0 unintentional overdose deaths per 100,000 among non-Indigenous Australians in 2018.

Drug overdoses killing Indigenous people at three times the rate of other Australians

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.

International Overdose Awareness Day 2020

This year’s International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) has seen our movement continue to grow and achieve real change. The final total of 874 events held in 39 countries is a new record, surpassing the previous high of 747 set last year.

And, just as in previous years, International Overdose Awareness Day is a chance to raise awareness of overdose, remember those we have lost, and call for change.

In addition to the final tally of events, there are several headline statistics which show how much our movement has grown.

As of today, the International Overdose Awareness Day Facebook page has more than 40,000 followers, while our Twitter page has more than 4,000.

This year’s campaign brought more than 273,000 visitors to the IOAD website, www.overdoseday.com Visitors to the website downloaded our online resources – posters, fact sheets, and event support kits – more than 20,000 times.

And our supporters bought and distributed close to 60,000 individual pieces of merchandise (in the form of wristbands, badges, and lanyards) – 30 per cent more than in 2018.

The other findings of the 2019 Partners’ Report are based primarily on a survey conducted by Penington Institute, the convenor of IOAD, which asked participants about their events and their experiences. Key findings gathered from responses to the survey include:

Knowledge about the IOAD community: our movement is made up of people who use drugs, loved ones of people who have been affected by drugs, harm reduction and health workers, advocates, and activists. Often, these communities overlap.

Motivations: raising awareness of overdose, reducing stigma, and commemoration or memorial of those we’ve lost were the most popular responses.

Events: almost 95 per cent of respondents had held an IOAD event before. Close to two-thirds of respondents said their event was attended by the general public, while 80 per cent said their event was attended by family and friends of people affected by overdose, and health or community workers.

Satisfaction: 95 per cent of respondents believed their event was successful or very successful, while 96 per cent were satisfied or very satisfied with the resources on offer.

Media coverage: 75 per cent of respondents said their event received media coverage, and the campaign overall generated 2,550 news stories.

Outputs and Outcomes: increased awareness, naloxone training, the creation of shareable resources, Mayoral Proclamations, and politicians promising to do more to end overdose.

The Partners’ Report concludes by reflecting on this year’s campaign and setting some ambitious targets for next year, which will be the 20th International Overdose Awareness Day.

These targets include 1,000 registered events held in 50 countries, a greater number of real-world policy outcomes, and continued growth in key target areas such as the United Kingdom, South-East Asia, South America and Africa.

International overdose awareness day: A vision to end the global overdose crisis

If you’ve had cause to wonder whether opioids are helpful or harmful in your life right now, you’re definitely not alone.

People take opioids for many reasons. A lot of people take opioids like codeine and oxycodone for chronic pain, illness and injury because of the therapeutic benefits of opioids.

As much as they can make us feel better, in other circumstances, they can make you feel worse. Sometimes much worse.

Getting on top of opioid dependence or addiction is difficult for a lot of us.

The stigma we encounter definitely doesn’t help. If you feel like it’s time to learn more about dependence on or addiction to opioids, read on.

This website provides information about opioid dependence (which may be diagnosed as Opioid Use Disorder or OUD) and about different options for treatment.

Opioids include pain medications that are often prescribed by doctors, such as codeine, morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl, and drugs that are usually illegal, such as heroin and opium. They are usually used to treat pain, but they can also be used to treat opioid dependence.

Some people use opioids for the pleasant, relaxed feeling that they give, even if they don’t have any pain. Some people may start using opioids to treat a medical problem, but continue to use them even after their problem has gone.

Anyone can develop a dependence to opioids. It doesn’t matter why or how they use opioids, how old they are, what their background is, or their life experience – 

Penington Institute

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