Residents share horror videos and photos near controversial safe injecting room
Residents living near an injecting centre have complained about drug user antics spilling out onto the streets and bringing danger to their previously safe community.
Individuals have been captured in photos and videos by concerned locals of North Richmond, Melbourne, where a Medically Supervised Injecting Room was opened last year.
More than half way into its two-year trial, the centre has faced ongoing criticism from locals who say the area has become more dangerous since it opened in June last year.
In a Facebook group campaigning to have the location of the centre moved, residents have shared visual evidence of people using drugs in areas surrounding the room.
In one instance, video showed a woman appearing to “shoot up” in her thigh while sitting on a bench in a park in North Richmond on July 24.
The person who filmed and shared the footage to the group said the park, named The Gathering Place, had become a “hot spot for drug users”.
Earlier on the same day, another local resident photographed a man he claimed to see shooting up in his driveway, before he did “some kind of dance” away.
The alleged drug user apparently told the home occupant he had opted to inject drugs in public because “there's not enough room or space at the injecting room and you have to wait too long”.
Another pair believed to be using drugs were filmed crouched behind vehicles in a car park on July 25, apparently “in full view of everyone”.
One man thought to be under the influence of drugs was filmed on the corner of a street seemingly trying to dance while lifting his shirt up as a pedestrian passed.
A man was filmed smashing against an outside wall of the injecting room on July 21, while two men were photographed allegedly injecting near a school gate on Thursday.
The injecting room was launched with the intention it would prevent overdose deaths and provide easier access to healthcare and social support.
North Richmond Community Health said so far the centre had achieved its purpose with more than 650 overdoses successfully reversed in the injecting room, the organisation’s website states.
About 200 people use the room each day, according to NRCH, which said it was usually at or close to full capacity when it was open.
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