The number of people dying in Queensland from accidental drug overdoses has more than doubled in the past decade.

The Australian Annual Overdose Report by the not-for-profit Penington Institute warns it is not illicit drugs but sleeping tablets and anxiety tablets that are the most concern.

Report author John Ryan tells Mark Australia could be sleepwalking towards a U-S style opioid crisis and it is people in middle age who are most at risk.

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