Drug deaths increase in rural Australia.

More evidence of government neglect of rural Australia. It's not just education.....

Drug-related deaths have increased twice as fast in rural Australia because of poor access to drug-treatment services.

Researchers at the University of New England have put together a list of actions policy-makers can take to get ahead of the trend.

Every year between 200,000 and 500,000 people go without help for drug and alcohol use, Rural criminology senior lecturer Dr Katinka van de Ven said.

"It comes down to policy, social, physical and economic conditions, one of the things that became apparent was the lack of accessibility to drug and alcohol treatment programs so people have to travel," she said.