Geelong overdose victim’s family calls for injecting room

The family of a man who was found dead from an overdose in a bathroom is calling for a safe injecting room to be established in Geelong.

Jye Vessey, right, in his younger years with mum Debbie Brady. Picture: Supplied

The grieving family of a man who was found dead from an overdose in a bathroom is calling for a safe injecting room to be established in Geelong.

Jye Vessey died from a heroin overdose in a Corio Community Health Centre rest room after visiting its needle exchange on April 28, his family says.

They say the Norlane 34-year-old’s death would have been avoided if he had been at a medically supervised injecting room instead.

Mr Vessey, who had schizophrenia, had started using drugs as a teenager but spent the last years of his life gripped by addiction.

His 33-year-old sister Ebony Siemienowicz, who lives in Bannockburn, said it was a vicious cycle.

“It was a downhill spiral, slipping further and further into addiction and further into psychosis states where he was not living in the world that we lived in for weeks to months,” she said.

Jye Vessey as a baby with his parents. Picture: Supplied

Mum Debbie Brady said prior to his downward spiral, he was working as a bricklayer and was very popular.

The Norlane woman described her son as kind.

He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his 20s and then his drug use escalated after his father’s death.

Mr Vessey became a heavy ice user, and also took other drugs.

“Throughout the years, we felt like as a family, we just watched him slip deeper and deeper into this,” Mrs Siemienowicz said.

She said it was difficult finding services that could treat both his complex mental health issues and drug addiction.

Numerous jail stints also interrupted his life.

Mr Vessey had been out of prison for less than 24 hours before his death.

“The system is broken,” Ms Brady said.

“We want action … we don’t want sympathy.”

The pair has created a Change.org petition calling for a safe injecting site in Geelong which they plan to present to local politicians.

The state government said it had no plans to open a medically supervised injecting room in Geelong.

“We’re investing in the programs and services we know will reduce harm and give people a pathway out of addiction,” a spokeswoman said.

A medically supervised injecting room, which also can connect clients with other services, has been established in North Richmond.

It has managed thousands of overdoses since opening in 2018, but has caused some controversy among residents.

A report by former senior police officer Ken Lay on establishing a Melbourne CBD drug-injecting site had been handed to the Mental Health Minister.

Ms Brady said injecting centres needed to be located in appropriate areas.

“It needs to be treated as a health problem,” she said.

“It’s a conversation that needs to be had.”

Mrs Siemienowicz said: “It is a safer option. It is actually taking it off the streets.”

A Barwon Health spokesperson said it had referred Mr Vessey’s death to the coroner.

“Barwon Health offers a range of harm minimisation services, including a needle syringe

program, naloxone program and drug and alcohol counselling,” the spokesperson said.

“Barwon Health is supportive of any evidence-based measures that could further reduce

the harms from drug and alcohol use, including learning from the outcomes that have

come from the first safe injecting room in Victoria.”

There were 100 unintentional drug-induced deaths between 2017 and 2021 in the Geelong region and 21 in the Surf Coast – Bellarine Peninsula area, according to a Penington Institute report.

Originally published as Geelong overdose victim’s family calls for injecting room