Prescription drugs caused or contributed to the deaths of 310 of the 374 people to die in Victoria from drug overdoses last year - prompting calls for greater controls on medication.
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Victoria's 374 drug overdose deaths exceeded the state's road toll of 242 last year.
In many cases illicit drugs and alcohol also contributed to the prescription-drug deaths, but in 143 cases the deaths were due to prescription-drug use alone. Prescription drugs contributed to 83 per cent of drug overdoses.
Illicit drugs contributed to 164 deaths and were the sole cause of death in 52 cases.
Diazepam, commonly known as Valium, was the drug that caused or contributed to the highest number of overdose deaths last year. It played a role in 164 deaths.
Heroin caused or contributed to 132 deaths. Codeine caused or contributed to 71 deaths, methadone 70, oxycodone 60 and methamphetamine 50.
Drug overdose deaths rose from 349 in 2010 to 374 last year.
Victorian Drug and Alcohol Association executive officer Sam Biondo said overdose deaths were a nation-wide catastrophe, with the latest Victorian figures highlighting the major influence of ''medically prescribed, legal drugs''.
Mr Biondo said community concern focused on street-based drug users, but the problem was ''as much about unfortunate people involved in workplace injuries and transport accidents - mums and dads who are getting caught up with powerful substances and can become addicted''.
The figures include all overdose deaths in Victoria, including suicides. They were released as part of a finding into the death of Kirk Ardern, 32, who died after overdosing on a cocktail of prescribed and illicit drugs days after his release from prison in June 2012.
Coroner Audrey Jamieson found a doctor's decision to prescribe five ''takeaway'' doses of methadone to Mr Ardern on his release from prison - rather than requiring him to attend a pharmacy to receive each dose under supervision - was ''questionable'' given his circumstances.
Ms Jamieson said another doctor appeared to have engaged in poor practice by prescribing a large quantity of the minor tranquilliser diazepam (Valium) to Mr Ardern, but acknowledged ''systemic issues'' faced by GPs in prescribing this class of drugs, called benzodiazepines.
They included difficulties establishing whether patients were being prescribed other medications, including opioid replacement therapies such as methadone, by other doctors.
Ms Jamieson found Mr Ardern, who was found dead in the grounds of Sacred Heart Mission in St Kilda, died due to ''unintentional consequences of intentionally ingesting a combination of prescribed and illegal substances''.
She said his death had illustrated ''the immediate need for better controls over pharmaceutical drug prescribing and dispensing in order to reduce harms''.
Ms Jamieson said federal and state plans for a ''real-time monitoring system'' to alert doctors and pharmacists to individuals obtaining multiple prescriptions had stalled despite being repeatedly recommended by Victorian coroners and public health authorities for at least five years.
She recommended the Victorian government create a page on its website within three months providing ''up-to-date information regarding the planning and implementation of this crucial public health initiative''. Ms Jamieson said the system was needed because ''there is no question that the current prescribing system, and therefore the ease of obtaining inappropriate access and/or amounts of drugs, lacks sufficient rigour''.
She also called for federal authorities to place more stringent restrictions on all benzodiazepines so that a licence was required to prescribe them for longer than eight weeks or to a drug-dependent person. Such restrictions apply to the prescribing of a particular benzodiazepine, called alprazolam (Xanax), however Ms Jamieson said the same risks applied to all benzodiazepines.
