{"id":773358,"date":"2026-07-02T02:38:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T02:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/773358\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T02:38:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T02:38:27","slug":"support-meds-program-how-a-new-national-crackdown-on-overprescribing-will-help-australians-safely-taper-off-opioids-and-sleeping-pills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/773358\/","title":{"rendered":"SUPPORT-Meds program: How a new national crackdown on overprescribing will help Australians safely taper off opioids and sleeping pills"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A national crackdown on the harmful overprescribing of medications will see thousands of healthcare workers push to wean Australians off unnecessary drugs, including sleeping tablets and opioids.<\/p>\n

The world-first deprescribing program, launched by Monash University on Wednesday, comes as experts warn that chronic reliance on some medications is leading to severe and dangerous side-effects and causing increasing patient harm.<\/p>\n

\"JanneyJanney Wale was shocked at how quickly she formed a dependence on opioids. Justin McManus<\/p>\n

Janney Wale began taking opioids daily to deal with the searing pain in her leg as she waited for knee replacement surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in this blur of, \u2018I\u2019ve got to have my pain controlled, so I can manage,\u2019\u201d the retired biomedical researcher said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was taking huge amounts. I was feeling really unwell, not really coping with the pain anyway, but hanging out for the next three or four hours until I could take the next lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Rebekah<\/a><\/p>\n

At first, the 80-year-old Brunswick resident did not link her \u201cextreme fatigue\u201d or cognitive decline to her heavy intake of codeine.<\/p>\n

But as the weeks went on, she found herself on the verge of tears every night. She noticed the throbbing pain in her knee was always there, no matter how many tablets she took.<\/p>\n

Wale later discovered, following a medical appointment, that her blood electrolytes were severely \u201cout of kilter\u201d and she was suffering from critically low potassium levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t realise what an effect taking that much codeine was having on me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As part of the two-year program, about 7000 healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists from across Australia, will be trained to safely guide Australians to cut back on medications in cases where the harm outweighs the benefit.<\/p>\n

The program called SUPPORT-Meds will help Australians taper off sleeping pills, such as benzodiazepines and Z-drugs used to treat insomnia, as well as cut back on prolonged use of opioids for people with chronic pain unrelated to cancer.<\/p>\n

While the push to reduce opioid use applies to all adults, the focus on cutting back sleeping pills will initially be aimed at Australians aged 65 and older.<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Emily Reeve, at the Centre for Medicine Use and Safety at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, is leading the program and said the goal was to protect people from the dangers that come from the unnecessary use of medicines.<\/p>\n

Reeve said dependency often developed quickly with sleeping pills and prolonged use could lead to lingering cognitive impairment and elevate the risk of car crashes for all ages.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Dr<\/a><\/p>\n

She added that while a patient might gain about 30 minutes of extra sleep when first prescribed the tablets, the body quickly adapts and builds a tolerance to it. With long-term use, the benefit decreases, but significant risks such as falls and fractures remain.<\/p>\n

Reeve said long-term sleeping tablet use in older adults triggered a five-times increased danger of cognitive impairment, a four-times spike in daytime sedation, and doubled the risk of dangerous falls and fractures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone stops the medication abruptly because their body is used to it, it can trigger a severe withdrawal reaction,\u201d Reeve said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis presents as insomnia and anxiety \u2026 the very symptoms the medication was meant to treat. Patients then think, \u2018I must still need this pill\u2019, not realising they are actually just suffering from withdrawal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"<\/a><\/p>\n

She said the first-line treatment was a specialised form of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia.<\/p>\n

The deprescribing program \u2013 which refers to a structured, supervised process of stopping medications that are no longer necessary or beneficial to the patient \u2013 will soon expand to phase out use of other medications, including antipsychotics and acid-reflux drugs.<\/p>\n

The training for clinicians included evidence-based education on how to begin conversations about the hidden harms or side-effects.<\/p>\n

Wale is now opioid-free and a patient advocate who holds a PhD in pharmacology, but she said the insidiousness of how quickly she formed a dependence on the drugs still shocks her.<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Hester Wilson is a GP and an addiction specialist.Louise Kennerley<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many people who are prescribed a medicine and just keep taking it and keep thinking they need it, when it may often reach a point where they are probably better to look for alternatives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sydney addiction specialist and Royal Australian College of General Practitioner alcohol and drugs expert Dr Hester Wilson said programs such as this were crucial, but she added deprescribing can be \u201creally tricky\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese medicines \u2026 they\u2019re essential, and they\u2019re great short-term, but the balance of benefit versus risk becomes increasingly dicey or fraught as people stay on longer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes for the person it can feel like the withdrawal experience is just too much to cope with, and people can feel like the things that have helped them to keep their life going are just being taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" Photo: Matt Golding<\/p>\n

Wilson said a person\u2019s dependence on the medication was often not clear until the dose was reduced.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is time-consuming and doing this, it\u2019s not a once-off,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a conversation that sometimes can go for some time. You\u2019ve got to be able to sit with them and allow them to express their fears and anxieties and support them through it. It\u2019s more than just education. There\u2019s got to be ongoing support.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"MelissaMelissa Cunningham<\/a> is a health reporter for The Age. She has previously covered crime and justice.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":["post-773358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}