PREMIER Daniel Andrews has paid tribute to Nhill’s Millington family on social media, as new legislation for a real-time prescription drug monitoring system is introduced into parliament.
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Margaret and John Millington’s son Simon died from a prescription drug overdose in 2010 and family has been pushing for this system ever since.
When the state government announced the system in April last year, Mrs Millington said it meant everything to her family.
“We pursued this because of Simon and now our efforts and hard work have paid off,” she said.
“It means his death will not be in vain.”
Mr Andrews took to Facebook on Tuesday to say he was thinking of the Millingtons when the bill was introduced to parliament.
“Simon became addicted to legally prescribed painkillers after suffering life-threatening injuries in a single-car accident,” he said.
“One night he overdosed.
“Simon’s mum, Margaret, said she kept asking herself why there was no monitoring system in place for doctors to keep track of people in his situation – to make sure they can’t go to different clinics and get too much medication. She campaigned hard for it.
“Well today, Victoria is developing a real-time prescription monitoring system, covering the widest range of high-risk medicines of any in Australia.”
Mr Andrews thanked the family for fighting for change every step of the way.
The Wimmera Drug Action Taskforce was also involved in lobbying for the system.
