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Unregistered benzodiazepines and counterfeit alprazolam: trends in NSW

Jared Brown
Resource Type: NDARC Seminars

Jared Brown presented at the NDARC Webinar Series on Thursday 15 September 2022.

This presentation provided an update on trends in detections and public health responses to unregistered benzodiazepines and counterfeit alprazolam in NSW.

The non-prescribed use of illicit unregistered benzodiazepines pose an emerging public health issue, with increasing reports of counterfeit alprazolam products in both Australia and worldwide. Most counterfeit ‘alprazolam tablets’ do not contain alprazolam but instead contain unregistered benzodiazepines (e.g. etizolam, flualprazolam) or other drugs. Our speaker will provide an update on time trends of detections of counterfeit alprazolam and unregistered benzodiazepines in NSW from police seizures, poisons centre calls, NSW Health clinician notifications and coronial toxicology results. NSW Health works with stakeholders to provide public and clinician drug information and recognises the need for multi-agency collaboration to manage this ongoing issue.

 

About the speaker

Jared Brown is Manager of Toxicity Response, Epidemiology and Surveillance at the Centre for Alcohol and Other Drugs, NSW Ministry of Health. He leads the team who rapidly identify and respond to emerging drug threats in the community. He has also worked for the NSW Poisons Information Centre for the past 14 years in a variety of clinical, management and public health roles. He remains involved with the School of Pharmacy, University of Sydney contributing to research and training in medication safety and toxicology and previously contributed to the Advisory Committee on Chemicals Scheduling as an appointed member. He is an Advanced Practice Pharmacist and Fellow of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia. He holds a Masters in Public Health and is passionate about improving the quality and use of routinely collected data to rapidly identify and respond to emerging drug trends.