Overdose deaths rise

Key points

• Greater Geelong recorded the highest number of fatal drug overdoses of any local government area in Victoria in 2025, with 45 deaths, overtaking Melbourne for the first time on record. Statewide, 632 Victorians died from overdoses, the highest figure in the past decade.
• Victorian Coroner Simon McGregor has called for a safe injecting room in Geelong. Scott Drummond of the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association said harm reduction services need more funding, warning that deaths will keep rising without it.
• Illegal drugs, including heroin, methamphetamine and GHB, contributed to 66.9 per cent of overdose deaths.