Today is International Overdose Awareness Day, and experts are pushing for the expansion of an ACT-based initiative that could save lives.

An evaluation team comprised of experts from the Australian National University (ANU), Curtin University and the Burnet Institute, has found that more Canberrans die from opioid overdose than road accidents.

The opioid deaths include overdoses on illicit forms like heroin, as well as the widely-prescribed drug Oxycodone, otherwise known as Endone.

In 2011, Canberra began a project to teach injecting opioid drug users how to reverse overdoses with Naloxone.

Naloxone – a schedule four opioid antagonist - can reverse overdoses by way of an injection into fatty muscle.

The expert evaluation of the program found 57 recorded uses of Naloxone to revive people in the community, showing that the scheme certainly can, and does, save lives.

The expert panel says that the findings have led them to recommend the ACT Naloxone program be expanded nationwide.

The ACT Government funded the Naloxone program for 12 months in its recent budget, but the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drugs Association ACT (ATODA) says it should be permanently available for doctors to prescribe to anyone who uses opioids, and their families and friends.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration could clear the way for wider proliferation of the drug, by considering whether to re-schedule Naloxone from prescription-only to over the counter availability.

Reports say New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland have all followed the ACT's 2011 lead, and are introducing community-based overdose reversal schemes.

Experts say the national effort should be unified, cohesive, and based on the best possible research results.