Opioid prescribing controls almost halved oxycodone use, study suggests
Real-time prescription monitoring was potentially the main trigger for change, say researchers.
Oxycodone use fell 45% between 2019 and 2020, with no significant rebound since, Australian wastewater analysis suggests.
Researchers have attributed the decline to policies including smaller pack sizes, extra warnings and the widespread rollout of real-time prescription monitoring.
Their study, published in Addiction, involved analysing wastewater three times a year for six years across 50 treatment plants, representing around half of Australians.
It found that oxycodone consumption in 2017 was 78mg per 1000 people per day.
