Matt Johnston: State Government must pay to ensure safe injecting room helps addicts and residents

Residents have described North Richmond’s drug problem as like a horror movie — and while it can be fixed, it won’t be cheap, writes Matt Johnston.

“It’s like something out of a horror movie.”

That was how one North Richmond resident described her elderly mother being confronted by a drug user in the neighbourhood, months after an injecting centre opened.

She presented a recording of the incident during a community meeting at a local pub last week.

There was widespread angst at the All Nations Hotel. Scary stories were as common as addicts at a needle exchange.

NORTH RICHMOND RESIDENTS WITNESSING BLATANT DRUG USE

RICHMOND DRUG WORKING CAUGHT SHOOTING UP IN DRIVEWAY

Authorities must fund people to walk the streets to clean up the dangerous rubbish if necessary.

Despite the agitation of those present, this was not billed as a rally to try to force the centre to close, even though some locals may want that.

There were supporters and opponents sharing the room at this meeting, searching for a solution to problems that were clear to everyone.

Many people there had assumed the drug-injecting centre would change their neighbourhood, which had become a drop-off point for vagrants and addicts.

“It couldn’t get any worse” had been a common refrain uttered by locals when asked whether they were in favour of the plan.

In fact, many thought — or at least hoped — it would get better.

Surely fewer people would shoot up in their driveways if they were given an alternative place?

Apparently not, as numerous residents can attest.

The safe injecting room in North Richmond.

Reason Party MP Fiona Patten said last week that the “silver bullet” hope was perhaps an inflated expectation.

That was an eminently reasonable expectation, however.

Quite simply, it was assumed there must be some dividend for local residents who had to live next door to this experiment and who have already put up with so much over so many years.

The two-year injection-centre trial will not and should not be dumped midstream because of problems that have emerged.

Lives have been saved, as Labor MPs repeatedly tell us. And they have.

People who have overdosed are treated rather than left to die.

But unless the Andrews government, police, and community health staff fix a few things fast, it risks being weighted down by other consequences.

There are relatively simple solutions out there to fix some of the problems. Many were raised by residents at the meeting.

A drug user injects in a car park in Richmond. Picture: JASON EDWARDS

First, hurry up and finish the purpose-built centre that will replace the makeshift centre operating at the moment.

If you are going to open a centre and tell people they can inject highly addictive drugs into their veins, it’s a good idea to have enough chairs when they show up. These people aren’t the type who will hang out patiently in waiting rooms. Their need is too great.

Secondly, be more forthright with outreach programs. What is needed is more intervention for more drug-addled people more regularly. That requires more experienced staff and more money to hire them, and extend the hours in which they can help people.

Thirdly, there is the matter of the police.

Some local officers are reportedly unclear on the process for dealing with users in the area. There were some arrests of people dealing drugs recently, however, which is a good sign.

Everyone understands that you can’t run a drug-injecting centre and then arrest addicts for having a small stash on them.

At the same time, you can’t have people walk into a neighbourhood that contains a school and call “barley” to make themselves exempt from any laws at all.

Inside the safe injecting room in North Richmond.

DEALERS LIKENED TO TERRORISTS AS WAR ON DRUGS MOUNTS

Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton mumbled something about “visible presence stuff” on radio last week, but needs to become clearer about his expectations and actions. He’s effectively responsible, after all.

There needs to be a clear indication that there is not impunity for dealers, nor for addicts causing trouble.

Some of the supporters of the centre who don’t want to spook people from coming to the area should perhaps consider the alternative created by an overly soft approach. City of Yarra councillor Stephen Jolly, a loud and proud socialist, was right when he said sticking heads in the sand risked “reactionary ideas like closing the whole thing down”.

Then there is the problem of discarded needles. The promise of less dangerous refuse on the streets was a big tipping point for some residents unsure whether to give the centre a chance.

Once the new, bigger centre opens, discarded needles may become less of a problem. In the meantime, and perhaps even afterwards, authorities must pay for people to walk the streets to keep them clean if necessary.

Discarded syringes found in the Richmond area.

Advocates have called for longer opening hours at the centre, which may worry some residents; but the result could be that those who are now turning up at 8pm, only to find the door of the centre closed, will no longer be injecting in local driveways.

Sydney’s Kings Cross centre opens until 9:30pm, and Richmond’s site will probably go the same way.

At the same time, the needle exchange at which people are loitering might be moved somewhere nearby. Having dozens of people congregating in one area is clearly unsettling and intimidating.

All of these measures are going to cost money.

But if this expenditure means fewer people shooting up in driveways or leaving needles next to places children play, or more people getting off drugs as a result of intervention, I would have thought that this would be money well spent.

Any half-hearted approach will just alienate everyone.

The state government must step in now, or the horror movie reviews will start to take on a life of their own.

— Matt Johnston is state politics editor

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