Inside Victoria’s first safe injection rooms
Victoria’s first supervised injecting room is ready to open its doors and is due to attract an estimated 300 users a day, but opposition to the facility remains.
Thirty people have pre-registered to use the North Richmond centre which will start for an initial two-year trial after a spike in local overdose deaths.
During a tour of the facility on Friday Mental Health Minister Martin Foley confirmed it would “open in the next few days”, but would not give an exact timetable.
“This is a brave decision by this government that will save lives and make a significant contribution to improving the amenity and safety of this area,” he said.
“It is probably going to be one of the most scrutinised, accountable medical facilities in the state for some time to come.”
Eleven people will be able to inject at the same time under staff supervision and each user is expected to spend about 15 minutes at the facility, the centre’s medical director Nico Clark said on Friday.
Initially the centre was going to cater only for heroin users, but will cover all injectable drugs of dependence.
Dr Clark estimates 300 people every day are expected to use the centre but believes less than 10 per cent would use ice.
Ambulance Victoria emergency operations executive director Michael Stephenson said the centre would help to save more than 35 lives each year in and around the “epicentre of heroin injecting in Melbourne”.
Loretta Gabriel, whose son Sam O’Donnell died about 500m away from the centre in 2016, said it would be “beyond his wildest dreams” for heroin addiction to be treated as a medical condition.
Yet Neil Mallet, whose children attend nearby Richmond West Primary School, told AAP in April the location was an issue and the government’s “backflip” to allow ice at the centre had “escalated the matter”.
“I can’t see any sane person look at this and say it’s the best choice for the children to have this population next door,” Mr Mallet said.
“I understand it’s needed and I support the idea, but not within spitting distance of five- to 12-year-olds.”
The Liberal-Nationals opposition said the government’s ice “backflip” on injecting rooms meant it could not be trusted to not open others.
The government’s shift to allow ice injecting at the centre prompted Opposition Leader Matthew Guy to announce he would exclude the drug from the trial, if the coalition wins the November election.
The supervised-injecting facility will be Australia’s second, modelled on Sydney’s Kings Cross version, which opened in 2001 and is yet to record a death.
An independent panel will review the trial and report in 2020, with scope to extend it for another year.
