Parents call for action as Queensland overdose deaths reach record high

Les and Pat Stelling learned of their son Ian’s death at 1am, when a police officer knocked on their door in central Queensland. Ian, a boilermaker working interstate, had died in a hotel room in 1998 after accidentally overdosing on heroin and alcohol. He was the father of a seven-year-old boy.

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We've never got over it.

The loss still weighs on the family. Les Stelling said, "We've never got over it." Pat remembered Ian as a normal young man who loved football, his friends and his family. In recent years, the couple has also supported another close family member through drug addiction.

Now the Stellings are urging Queensland to expand access to naloxone, a medication that blocks the effects of opioids. They also support drug checking, which the Queensland government outlawed in 2025. Les said people taking drugs often have no idea how strong they are or what they contain.

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With drugs, you don't have a clue what you're taking, how strong it is, and what's in it.

The call comes after Queensland recorded 417 unintentional overdose deaths in 2024, according to an annual report from the Penington Institute. Nationally, unintentional drug-induced deaths exceeded 2,000 for the first time, surpassing the road toll.

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The findings should be a wake-up call for governments, policymakers and the community.

Regional Queensland recorded 7.9 overdose deaths per 100,000 residents, compared with 6.8 in greater Brisbane. Amphetamine-type stimulants caused the most deaths in the state, followed by heroin and benzodiazepines. QuIVAA chief executive Emma Kill said overdoses were "costing us people we shouldn't be losing" and called for a multidisciplinary state overdose strategy centered on people with lived experience.

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Every year we say the same things and hope something changes. It won't, not until we take real, proactive action around the sheer number of lives we are losing.