Western Victoria is the first region in Australia to take up a centralised watch system, with the rest of the state set to follow next year.

Minister Hennessy said prescription drug addiction was a major, complex problem nationwide but western Victoria was a great starting point to set up the SafeScript program because there was large cities in Ballarat and Geelong and contrasting small remote locations, like in the Hepburn Shire.

“We want to make sure we’ve got a system that operates in a big hospitals, pharmacies and also in places where you’ve got a (general practitioner) who may not have all the systems and support around them,” Minister Hennessy said.

The system will monitor strong pain killers like oxycodone, commonly prescribed sleeping drug Stillnox, many drugs used to treat anxiety and codeine, which was blocked from over-the-counter use in February.

Minister Hennessy said the system aimed to eradicate doctor shopping among those who were dependent on prescription medication, it could also help GPs and pharmacists to identify developing addictions or potential black market use.

The move comes after Nhill couple Margaret and John Millington spent almost a decade lobbying the pharmaceutical industry and governments for change.

Mrs Millington said taking on big companies was a “scary space” but they refused to give up in their work to prevent other families enduring what drugs had done to theirs.

Their son Simon died eight years ago from an overdose. Simon battled a 16-year addiction to pain killers after initial treatment from a car accident.

It was a bittersweet moment for the Millingtons, who were in Ballarat on Monday for the program launch.

 “If anyone told me years ago we would have addiction in our family, I would never have believed them. We are a happy family, growing up in the country,” Mrs Millington said. “We’ve paid a high price for this to happen but we want to prevent future Simons...We have achieved what we set out to achieve...we’re about helping others and I think we’ve finally done that to the ultimate.”

There were 414 Victorian deaths from prescription medicine overdoses last year.

Accidental drug-related death in Australia is more than double the road toll and higher than death from heroin or illicit drug use

SafeScript in Victoria is a start for the Millingtons, who will continue to lobby for real-time prescription monitoring to become Australia-wide.