North Richmond safe injecting room will save lives, writes Sam Biondo
THERE are an increasing number of misconceptions about the North Richmond medically supervised injecting centre, but the centre will save lives, writes Sam Biondo.
Opinion
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THERE are an increasing number of misconceptions about the intent and purpose of the medically supervised injecting centre (MSIC) that has opened at North Richmond Community Health.
First and foremost the centre has been implemented to save lives. It also intends to reduce public drug consumption and discarded injecting paraphernalia, improve amenity for the community and link at-risk users to support services, including alcohol and other drug treatment.
An injection room does not affect the number of substance-affected people in public places nor does it impact upon crime.
Before the establishment of the injection room, the public spaces in North Richmond already had many visible substance-affected people and individuals experiencing various forms of distress, including homelessness and mental illness.
This is unlikely to change in the short term, but the MSIC will have an impact on these issues via referral to health and welfare services. The centre provides a vital harm-reduction and referral service to users who many will not see.
Before the centre, North Richmond also experienced various forms of crime, such as the assaults reported recently by the Herald Sun. This is unlikely to change.
I know these things first-hand, as I’ve worked in the region for 10 years and have witnessed public substance use throughout that time, seen the proliferation of police crackdowns which have done little to curb the issue. I have heard the sirens, all day, every day.
Likewise, residents and businesses living and operating near this centre have been witnessing unsupervised public substance use for years.
People have been coming to North Richmond to inject drugs for years.
Emergency workers have been attending fatal and non-fatal overdoses in North Richmond for years. The MSIC will not increase any of these things.
All of the international and Australian evidence indicates that what the MSIC will do is reduce public drug use, reduce fatal overdose as well as the ubiquitous emergency vehicle sirens we hear multiple times on a daily basis.
Reflecting on the other 90 or so MSICs internationally, the consistent outcome is a reduction in public substance use, improved community amenity and less death. These benefits also deliver a saving to government, with more emergency services being freed up.
The situation in North Richmond is at crisis point. The MSIC has been running for just over a week. The trial injection centre should be given the two-year period to operate and should be reviewed as planned to determine its efficacy.
We can’t go backwards and continue the preventable human toll with the weight of national and international evidence supporting this measure. Any alternative will result in more families losing their loved ones.
Sam Biondo is executive officer at the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association
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