Journalist exposes the fatal Fentanyl epidemic destroying millions of lives | 60 Minutes Australia

the drug fentanyl was created almost 60 years ago as a painkiller and there's no doubt it works it's 50 times stronger than heroin but as well as being dangerously potent it's also highly addictive which has now transformed it from painkiller to plain killer in the united states a national emergency has been declared because of an epidemic of fatal fentanyl overdoses deaths which include entertainment icons prince and tom petty and it's the ease of the access to the drug there and here which is responsible addicts don't need to meet a dodgy dealer in an alleyway to get a hit rather they simply make an appointment with their local gp and ask for a prescription [Music] simon stoddart is doing something he shouldn't in fact no one should be able to um see a doctor as soon as possible it's doctor shopping and it's easy the drug he and so many across australia are after is the highly addictive painkiller fentanyl and doctors know just how dangerous it can be i think there was a reason i'm sorry about a bodybuilder in gold first who got a fentanyl bat and then he went into a current wake up but invariably they'll hand you a script for the drug anyway as simon is finding out quick scripts for opioids uh the norm not the exception it certainly would go from doctor to doctor get this i could uh i could easily kill myself with the amount i've got already simon is doing this for good reason though he's made angus overdosed on fentanyl prescribed by a doctor a death he believes would never have happened if doctors did their job properly he wants them to stop giving the drug out so easily this is something that you feel pretty strongly about very very close to my heart angus is a good mate of mine uh he he died from fentanyl patches these things are supposed to be safe and now he goes to the doctor he's got an opiate problem it's a known fact and they gave him patches and he died disturbingly the number of deaths in australia has jumped by nearly 2 000 and even gps now admit we have a national disaster on our hands how would you describe the situation in australia right now it is a disaster we need to be quite clear here that the the use of fentanyl in the community has gotten out of control so it's time for us as medical petitioners to take action [Music] just how dangerous is fentanyl it kills people it killed my son it kills people all the time he was just such a gorgeous boy he was one of those boys that everybody just loved everyone wanted to have him over to their house she had like everyone was his friend little heartbreaker yeah sandra mcgivern's little boy angus grew into a big strong and talented rugby player at 16 the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself a scholarship to play gridiron in the united states so he came home and said i'm going to america i reckon i can do this [Music] it's a brutal sport and injuries took a toll on angus so to help with back pain he was prescribed heavy painkillers because it was prescription drugs i just i don't know why i i really thought that it was going to be okay but things weren't okay an opioid dependency quickly developed so sandra brought angus home to the gold coast and put him into rehab of all places tragically that's where he discovered fentanyl a painkiller 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine but it's readily handed out by australian doctors when he came out he went straight to a doctor because he had the back injuries he knew exactly what to say so by going to rehab by trying to help him get clean he actually learned totally how to become an even worse drug addict exactly you can't win i know it's it's just a slippery slope so it was literally happening sandra's life was turned on its head her son was doctor shopping and getting his hands on fentanyl with ease and she was regularly finding it stashed throughout their house and then i looked up and i saw fingerprints you can still see them yeah and he's gone so i pushed it up and i got my phone and i turned it on and i sort of videoed around the roof because i couldn't see and then i looked at it and i thought oh my god and here i found this stash with five different boxes of fentanyl from five different doctors i was going to say it was going on under your own roof it was in your own roof absolutely so i took photographs of everything that i found nearly every morning that angus and i lived together i would come out in the morning and if he was facing a different direction i would immediately go over and feel his pulse because my greatest dread was that he would fall asleep and not wake up again so every morning your first thought almost totally has you overdosed this morning awful way to live your life shocking i was i was such a mess and he was on such a massive dose of it that it was causing like his eyes would flicker i'd be talking to him and his eyes would start rolling back in his head so i was constantly worried that he was going to end up a vegetable or in a coma by last year angus's doctor shopping was completely out of hand and all too easy in just three months he visited 13 different doctors who prescribed him a lethal 65 fentanyl patches by september sandra's worst fears were realised when she was at work one morning and couldn't get onto angus she sent a friend around to check on him [Music] he called and he said i'm sorry he's i'm god he's gone i didn't think he'd die i truly because there's no way in the world he wanted to die to tell you the truth i don't know if i really even now believe he's dead you know some days i miss him so much that it's agonizing i mean let's put this simply if it wasn't so easy to go doctor shopping for fentanyl would angus still be here today absolutely we've come to the gold coast to investigate just how easy it is to go doctor shopping so they're turned on they're not glasses that's it i don't know that's the camera camera camera sound um suppose i want to see a doctor sure as soon as possible simon stoddart wants to show just how simple it is visiting five clinics asking for fentanyl have you been here before for reasons of ethics he pays for the doctor's visit himself rather than using medicare and didn't even have to show his id such as the lax standards i hurt my back in a motorbike accident a few years ago the first doctor is more than happy to help simon get the drug when i was in adelaide the doctor gave me i can't remember the name of it it there's a patch yeah it's called sullivan that's it just minutes after sitting down the doctor is printing the script [Music] doctor number two and same story no id required yeah thank you but still a script for opioids is handed over for simon's invented back pain it just gets easier and easier doctor number three talks openly about the fact that other patients of his have abused fentanyl i've actually had a patient on back in rehab who um felt his fenceball patch oh you're kidding me but that still doesn't stop him from prescribing the deadly drug again okay so there's like three patches up each patch will last three days the next doctor makes it fall from four [Music] handing over the fentanyl script after a consultation that lasts less than five minutes all right you're very very well [Music] i mean it's pretty easy in general but that was the easiest part a long way straight in straight out australia's rapidly growing fentanyl problem is starting to follow the american path where opioid addictions have been declared a national emergency last year alone more than 64 000 people in the u.s died from opioid overdoses pop superstar prince is among the victims to have lost his life at the hands of fentanyl and more recently demi lovato also overdosed the crisis is so serious president trump is now pushing for the toughest penalty of all for anyone who sells the drug on the black market if we don't get tough on the drug dealers we're wasting our time just remember that we're wasting our time and that toughness includes the death penalty here in australia there's been a huge increase in the number of opioid-related deaths as well the latest figures show more than a thousand people overdosed and died in the space of just 12 months so many of those addicts start out simply seeking medical treatment for basic injuries or ailments but quickly they're hooked and they end up trying to feed their habit by doctor shopping or getting a hit somewhere on the black market when you get desperate for the drugs you have to start you know hanging around in the wrong circles to be able to buy them and that was part of what he hated and that's when he used to say i i do terrible things when i'm desperate for drugs mum you know i go terrible places i would never want you to see where i have been coming up saving lives it can just be your son or your husband or your brother a mum's campaign to stop doctors giving out fentanyl you really hit a court here something has to be done but is the fight already lost now we have the problem that we can't drain the prescribing why can't you that's next on 60 minutes so this is where you scattered angus's ashes yep we've put him into the ocean here and another sandra mcgivern is a mum on a mission all his life he swam in this ocean he loved it here this is where he was going to recover and rehab himself after his surgery her son angus was a promising young footballer but when he was given painkillers to treat his injuries the teenager became hooked on opioids now sandra's demanding that gps stop prescribing fentanyl the drug that angus overdosed on last year [Music] i don't think any addict does wants to die or does it because it's fun they basically have to take the drug to survive and you're pretty determined that something good comes of this tragedy i truly believe that the more people that understand how dangerous it is then hopefully it won't happen to anybody else it's not just people going and buying drugs in a back alley it can just be your son or your husband or your brother sandra's launched a petition demanding the power to prescribe fentanyl be limited to specialist doctors only she was hoping for just 100 signatures but now has more than 19 000 overwhelmed by the response from other families who've also lost loved ones to fentanyl what are some of the things that people have had to say here we have a lady who's written my daughter also overdosed on fentanyl and my sister was killed by prescription drugs doctors have to stop prescribing these lethal drugs you've really hit a cord here yeah it's amazing it's becoming such an issue and something has to be done how would you describe the situation in australia right now well look at the you know numbers you know 500 people you know who are dying from fentanyl related overdoses as well it is a disaster dr bastian seidel is the president of australia's royal college of general practitioners he admits we have a fentanyl crisis on our hands and concedes that a big factor is doctors who hand out the drug far too easily it's very concerning and i must admit it's quite inappropriate as well and now we have the problem that we can't drain the prescribing in why can't you run it in because it's so popular now you know you know patience isn't it the doctor's job to decide whether or not it is handed out yeah it's a very difficult situation in particular when it's difficult to find alternatives to strong painkillers such as fentanyl is fentanyl an appropriate drug for back pain for hip soreness no it certainly isn't for cancer pain it is appropriate to prescribe fentanyl in particular when you've tried other medicines before but certainly for patients who just have lower back pain you know patients who just have a sore hip you know fentanyl certainly is inappropriate [Music] some doctors are already drawing a line in the sand simon stoddart went doctor shopping on the gold coast to show how easy it is to get your hands on fentanyl and the first four clinics he visited all handed over opioid physical prescriptions thank you but the fifth and final doctor he visits is the first to raise red flags and refuses to hand over a script for fentanyl because he believes it's simply too risky how dangerous is it highly dangerous there is a schedule a drug that is quite addictive and that is misused fentanyl i will not prescribe you like that and you can get in trouble of course i don't want to lose my license this is my brother this particular doctor took a great deal of care made it very clear he will not give out fentanyl he said he's had a bad experience before and he said it's a well-known fact that how addictive they are and how dangerous they are what him refusing you fentanyl does is just show i guess how bordering on reckless some of these other doctors are handing it over straight away well i totally agree and it's not only that is the fact that if he knows how dangerous it is obviously they do as well so yeah reckless 100 you're totally right when it comes to fentanyl do we have a crisis in australia we have a major issue federal health minister greg hunt is frantically trying to address australia's rapidly worsening opioid problem in addition to rolling out a national prescription monitoring database to stop doctor shopping he's revealed to us for the first time the government is now looking at potentially restricting the use of fentanyl to patients with terminal illnesses but right now at my request the head of the tga is reviewing with a laser-like focus the range of conditions for which fentanyl can be prescribed so what you think someone turning up just with a sore back shouldn't be getting fentanyl the medical authorities will come to me with advice but their preliminary advice is that they are likely to recommend more limited range of uses for fentanyl precisely because it's so powerful and potentially in the wrong hands so addictive [Music] as far as sandra mcgivern is concerned despite plenty of buck passing between governments and doctors nothing has changed since her son angus overdosed on fentanyl last year that would prevent another young australian from losing their life the same way how important is it to you that angus's death isn't in vain it's the most important thing in my entire life i i can't bring him back but i will spend the rest of my life making sure that no one else's kid gets the same thing all opiates are a problem here but fentanyl is the it's a killer hello i'm liam bartlett thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the nine now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 461,376

Rating: 4.7359495 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Ellen Fanning, Peter Harvey, Michael Usher, Ross Coulthart, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo, fentanyl, fentanyl addiction, painkillers, pain killer addiction, deadly pain, overdose, od, pain killer epidemic, addiction epidemic, drug epidemic, war on drugs, australia, opioids, australia drug problem, prince, mac miller, demi lovato, tom petty, opioid, america

Id: JOeWrQ7EkZ4

Length: 19min 21sec (1161 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 18 2021