Police are warning the community about the dangers of prescription drugs, after a 14-year-old boy from Wellington overdosed in the early hours of Monday morning.
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The boy was airlifted to Randwick Childrens Hospital after he was revived at the scene shortly after 5am.
Orana Mid-Western Police District duty office Inspector Dan Skelly said the original prognosis wasn’t great, but better news had filtered through by Monday afternoon.
“It (the prognosis) was dire originally. He was intubated and put on a ventilator but the news from Randwick now is that he will make a recovery,” Insp Skelly said.
“It was lucky that he was sleeping in the same room as somebody who noticed his irregular breathing patterns and acted quickly.
“The boy suffered from what is called a polypharmacy overdose. We believe he had taken five different precription medications, and strong ones at that.”
The issue of prescription medication overdoses is a growing problem for police, with drugs such as oxycontin and fentanyl becoming just as prevalent as illicit substances within the community.
Insp Skelly said incidents such as Monday’s serve to highlight just how dangerous prescribed drugs can be.
“We are finding that these drugs can be as big a problem as drugs like cannabis, cocaine, heroin and ice, the illicit drugs we’ve been hearing about for so many years,” he said.
“Just because they are a prescription drug doesn’t mean they are safe. People should know it is an offence to provide people with drugs that aren’t prescribed for them.
“We have measures now to try and stop doctor shopping, which people do to then sell on the tablets or patches.”
