Lives will be lost if the Coalition is elected, writes Susie O’Brien
Why shut down a facility that is saving lives? Does Matthew Guy think the lives of drug users are not worth protecting, asks Susie O’Brien.
Susie O'Brien
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Lives will be lost if the Coalition is elected this Saturday.
There’s no other way to look at it. Coalition leader Matthew Guy has ordered Richmond’s successful medically-supervised safe injecting room will be shut down within a week if he is elected.
Why shut down a facility that is saving lives? Does Guy not think the lives of drug users are worth protecting?
Guy has objected to the facility’s location next to a school, but he hasn’t said he’d move it, he’s said he’d shut it down completely.
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This is a foolish move that will cost lives.
Since the controversial facility was opened in June, more than 140 drug users have been treated for potentially fatal overdoses, its medical director says.
The facility has had more than 8000 visits in the first two months of operation, with some users coming many times a day.
We know around 30 people in the Richmond area die from overdoses each year, and as many as 172 across the state.
This is why the injecting room was initially suggested by coroner Jacqui Hawkins in 2015.
The people of Richmond deserve better than having addicts shooting up in their front yards, streets and laneways.
They shouldn’t have to step over inert bodies in their doorways every morning.
Drug users deserve better too; they should have somewhere safe to take drugs with appropriate supervision.
That’s why this service is good for the community; it gives drug-addicted people in the area somewhere safe to go.
Even better, while users are there, they are likely to access other services to help them get off drugs as well as access health services.
Because of its location in a community health centre, users can have a blood test or get a dental check-up.
It’s facile and simplistic for the Liberal National Coalition to say they don’t think there is a safe way for people to use heroin or ice. This is not true.
The NSW safe injecting room at Kings Cross has been operating for 16 years and has handled more than 6000 overdoses without anyone dying.
While no one — certainly not me — is advocating drug use, it’s a reality.
The injecting room is saving lives and cleaning up “druggie central”.
This is yet another example of the Liberal National Coalition push a tough-on-crime agenda that’s out of step with community feeling and social reality.