Changing face of overdose: Patients in their 70s dying from stimulant drug misuse, says expert
Professor Shane Darke has watched various waves of overdose unfold since he started his research in 1988.
“When I first started researching overdoses, I was told there was nothing to study, that young people dropped down dead from overdoses because they didn’t know what they were doing.
“I’ve spent the last 30 years proving that was complete and utter nonsense.”
Professor Shane Darke started studying illicit drug use and deaths at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW Sydney in 1988, just before the first big wave of opioid overdose deaths.
By the early 2000s, psychostimulant overdoses snatched the headlines. Now novel psychoactive substances such as GHB and nitazenes are taking over.
