What proportion of Australians think pharmaceuticals are the drugs that cause most deaths in Australia?
When Australians were asked which drug they thought directly or indirectly caused the most deaths in Australia, 7% chose pain-killers/pain-relievers/opioids, 1% chose tranquillisers/sleeping pills, and 0.6% chose methadone/buprenorphine. Most people thought that alcohol (39%) or tobacco (17%) caused the most deaths.
When Australians were asked which drug they thought directly or indirectly caused the most deaths in Australia, 39% chose alcohol, 17% tobacco, 15% methamphetamine or amphetamine, 12% heroin, 7% pain-killers/pain-relievers/opioids, 5% cocaine, 2% ecstasy, 0.9% cannabis, 0.6% methadone/buprenorphine, 0.3% steroids, 1% tranquillisers/sleeping pills, and 0.9% another drug.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). 2022-23 National Drug Strategy Household Survey.
Please note: For the purpose of this FAQ, pharmaceutical drugs refer to pain-killers/pain-relievers/opioids (e.g.Oxycodone, Morphine, Codeine products such as Panadeine Forte), methadone/buprenorphine and tranquillisers/sleeping pills.
Percentages may not tally to 100% due to rounding.