We connect lived experience and research to improve community health and safety in relation to drugs.Learn MoreOverdose snapshot reportEarly look data shows the equivalent of a Boeing 737 plane full of people dying every month in Australia.See snapshotCannabis: Tell us your thoughtsTake our confidential survey and help us drive cannabis policy change in Victoria.Take surveyIs it time to regulate cannabis?Australia’s cannabis laws are doing more harm than good. Learn more about the solution.Find out more
Communities are safe, healthy and empowered to manage substance use, including pharmaceuticals and alcohol.
To support cost-effective approaches that maximise community health and safety in relation to drugs.
Frank and fiercely independent, we connect lived experience with research to improve the management of drugs through community engagement and knowledge sharing.
Penington Institute champions an open, rational, and compassionate approach to building and sharing knowledge to reduce drug-related harm.
We push for an effective regulatory framework for cannabis defined by public health goals, with priority placed on targeted prevention, education, and treatment.
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Each year Australia spends more than 1.5 billion dollars policing our nation’s ban on cannabis, and yet millions of Australians continue to use it.
Prohibition means that the purity and potency of cannabis, along with the $8 billion in profits it generates annually, remain in the hands of criminal networks.
Attitudes towards cannabis have changed. The 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey found that more Australians now support cannabis legalisation than oppose it.
Drug-induced deaths are the second-leading cause of death for Australians aged 30-39, second only to suicide.
Overdose deaths have increased significantly in the past 20 years and the numbers continue to rise.
Pharmaceutical drugs like opioids, benzodiazepines, anti-depressants and anti-convulsants, as well as synthetic illicitly produced drugs, are driving unintentional overdose deaths.
Overdose deaths occur across all cultural groups and socio-economic areas, but marginalised and disadvantaged communities are disproportionately affected.
Penington Institute produces Australia’s Annual Overdose Report to demonstrate the nature of the overdose crisis and to support change to reduce drug-induced deaths.
Penington Institute convenes the world’s largest annual campaign to end the overdose crisis. International Overdose Awareness Day falls on August 31 each year.
Every dollar you donate supports our work to improve community
health and safety in relation to drugs.
Every dollar you donate supports our work to improve community health and safety related to alcohol and other drugs.
Penington Institute
PO Box 722
Carlton South VIC 3053
Australia
Penington Institute 2025. All rights reserved.
