Can I just stop taking my sleeping tablet or pain medication?

Not safely, in most cases. Benzodiazepines, Z-drugs (like zopiclone or zolpidem), and opioids all carry real withdrawal risk if stopped abruptly. Symptoms can range from uncomfortable to medically serious. The SUPPORT-Meds program exists precisely because safe deprescribing requires a structured tapering plan, not simply stopping. If you want to reduce or come off a long-term medication, raise this with your GP and ask about a guided tapering approach.

What medications does the SUPPORT-Meds program cover?

The initial focus is benzodiazepines and Z-drugs prescribed for sleep in older people, and opioids for persistent non-cancer pain. Planned future expansion includes proton pump inhibitors, antipsychotics for dementia-related behaviours, NSAIDs, and gabapentinoids. The program provides GPs with tools across all these categories as it rolls out.

Australia's first GP deprescribing roadmap targets benzos and opioids

What just happened

Australia has launched its first structured deprescribing program for general practice.

SUPPORT-Meds, developed by Monash University in collaboration with the RACGP and other peak medical bodies, gives GPs across Australia a practical toolkit for reducing — or stopping — medications that are causing harm or are no longer delivering benefit. The initial focus is on two high-priority categories: benzodiazepines and Z-drugs prescribed for sleep (particularly in older patients), and opioids used for persistent non-cancer pain.

The program provides:

Online education modules for clinicians
A tapering calculator for individualised reduction plans
Communication guides for clinician–patient conversations
“Knowledge broker” visits to GP practices nationally

Professor Parker Magin, a GP and SUPPORT-Meds Advisory Group member, described the gap the program addresses: “This program gives clinicians across Australia the confidence and practical tools to have these conversations.”

Dr Hester Wilson, RACGP Chair of Addiction Medicine, was direct about what makes deprescribing different from simply stopping: “People can come to harm if they just stop — withdrawal symptoms can be incredibly distressing.”

The both-and

The scale of the problem explains why this program exists now

Nearly 40% of Australians aged 75 and over are currently taking five or more prescription medicines. The harms accumulating in that landscape are not hypothetical — unintentional deaths involving opioids and benzodiazepines have been rising in Australia for years. Falls, cognitive impairment, respiratory depression, and physiological dependence are the clinical realities behind those numbers.

At the same time, the people on these medications have often been on them for years, sometimes decades. Many started a benzodiazepine for a period of acute anxiety or for sleep disruption during a life crisis. The intended short-term prescription became a long-term dependency — not because the patient failed, but because the conversation about stopping never happened. General practice consultations are short; deprescribing conversations are long. The mismatch between clinical need and funded time is part of why these medications have stayed in place.

SUPPORT-Meds is partly a clinical program and partly an acknowledgement that the system created this situation and now needs to invest in reversing it.

What this looks like from the patient’s side

If you have been on a sleeping tablet, a benzodiazepine, or a long-term opioid for pain, this program is not a signal that your medication was wrong to start. It is a prompt that it may now be worth reviewing — with proper support, not abruptly.

The experience of coming off a benzodiazepine or opioid that the body has adapted to is real and, without a structured taper, can be genuinely difficult. The SUPPORT-Meds tapering calculator is designed to individualize that process — taking into account the specific drug, the dose, the duration of use, and the patient’s circumstances — rather than applying a generic timeline.

The RACGP’s clinical guidance on deprescribing and the Maudsley deprescribing guidelines, which SUPPORT-Meds endorses, make clear that the goal is not rapid cessation but a supervised reduction that gives the nervous system time to readjust. That can mean months, not weeks, for medications taken long-term.

2 cents

If you are on a benzodiazepine for sleep, or an opioid for ongoing pain, and you have wondered whether you still need it — or whether you could get off it — SUPPORT-Meds is a reason to raise that question at your next general practice appointment.

The conversation has been harder to have because GPs historically had limited structured support for the process. That is changing. A tapering calculator and a framework for the conversation now exist nationally, and your GP may be able to access them directly.

The important thing is not to try stopping unilaterally. Benzodiazepine and opioid withdrawal, without a structured plan, can include seizures, severe anxiety, and other serious symptoms. This is a conversation to have with support — not a project to manage alone.

The program’s expansion to proton pump inhibitors, NSAIDs, and antipsychotics is also worth watching. Polypharmacy in midlife and beyond is an underacknowledged source of cumulative harm, and having systematic frameworks for reviewing it is a genuine clinical advance.

Verdict: yes — a practical, well-resourced program targeting a well-documented problem.

Sources cited

RACGP newsGP — First-of-its-kind GP deprescribing roadmap launches. https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/first-of-its-kind-gp-deprescribing-roadmap-launche
RACGP — Guidance on deprescribing in general practice. https://www.racgp.org.au/