Buprenorphine–naloxone is well tolerated by patients with chronic pain, and has the potential to improve pain scores and affective symptoms.

Australia’s new national health priority of Quality Use of Medicine and Medicine Safety should stimulate all stakeholders including consumers to work together to address off-label medicine use.

A series of Commonwealth and state initiatives have been enacted to ensure ongoing access to medications during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Depot buprenorphine supported more than half of patients to remain in treatment, while allowing some flexibility in dose interval.

To curb unnecessary and prolonged prescribing of antidepressants, we need to support general practitioners to initiate antidepressants less often and to review and stop antidepressants more often.

GPs receive updates to their knowledge on a daily basis. They want accurate summaries of a medicine’s properties, efficacy and side-effect profile from trusted sources on which to base a decision.

It is estimated that 600,000 Australians currently self-medicate with cannabis, with chronic pain a leading indication for such use.

Patients prescribed high doses of opioids need to be managed appropriately to reduce risks of morbidity and mortality.

Beliefs about the usefulness of initiatives to reduce opioid prescribing in clinical practice and autonomy in prescribing may be important considerations in driving compliance.