Safe injecting room for addicts are a good idea but we should not pretend drug users are heroes

A SAFE injecting room for drug addicts makes sense and would save lives — but let’s not pretend users are heroic victims, writes Susie O’Brien.

THERE’S a big black-and-blue mural in Richmond that reads: “You talk we die.” But surely it should read: “You shoot up, you die.”

Residents and business owners in inner-city Melbourne deserve better than waking up every day to drug-addicted people lying in their streets and shopfronts littered with needles. They shouldn’t have to step over inert bodies in laneways and doorways every morning.

Drug users deserve better, too. They should have somewhere safe to take drugs with appropriate supervision. That is why a supervised drug-injecting space in Richmond is long overdue.

Not only would it save lives, but it would clean up the streets of a suburb known as “druggie central”.

Until we have millions of dollars to spend helping every drug-affected person overcome their addiction through targeted programs, helping people shoot up in a safe, supervised location is the best solution. Supervised injecting rooms have been shown to work in other places, such as Sydney’s Kings Cross, where one has been operating successfully for 16 years.

Helping people shoot up in a safe, supervised location is the best solution. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The Kings Cross facility has managed more than one million injections and more than 6000 overdoses without anyone dying.

A KPMG report shows the Sydney centre has a high level of support from local residents and businesses, has not increased crime around it and saves at least $650,000 a year in preventive medical costs.

Sure, the better outcome is that people aren’t addicted to drugs, but an injecting facility is the smartest move until we’ve found a way to make that happen.

It is a disgrace for the Andrews Government to continue to oppose a safe injecting facility. It makes no sense for drug users in this area to be given clean needles and boxes to discard them, but nowhere to inject safely but the streets.

Last weekend, hundreds of people rallied in support of a Richmond injection centre, squaring off against a small group of traders tired of their declining patronage.

The traders, led by Victoria St Business Association president Meca Ho, support an injecting room, but want to make sure it’s not in the middle of their trading strip.

That is fair enough. Yes, saving lives is the most important thing, but it’s not the only consideration.

PREMIER DANIEL ANDREWS DEFIANT ON SAFE INJECTING ROOM

A drug user after visiting the injection room in Kings Cross, Sydney.

If junkies care about their own safety, they can walk a few extra blocks to an injecting centre off the main drag.

The Greens-dominated Yarra council supports an injecting room, but it is in danger of going too far with their pro-drug message. They’re even considering a permanent memorial plaque to those who have died from drugs in the area.

That includes the 34 drug users who died in Richmond last year.

I disagree with the memorial idea. Even the “You talk we die” mural is divisive. It makes a point that more needs to be done to fix up the area, but its message is problematic because drug users die at their own hands.

No one else forces a drug user to shoot up. It’s a personal decision that can have devastating consequences for many.

A more prominent, publicly funded memorial would send the wrong message entirely.

Every one of the deaths is a tragedy and we must remember these are people who were loved and are missed by their family and friends. That message came through loud and clear at the weekend march.

However, we also need to take into account that many drug users are also criminals who steal to finance their dirty habit. We should mourn their passing, but we should not glorify their actions.

 SCUFFLES BREAK OUT IN RICHMOND INJECTING ROOM MARCH

ONE report by the Australian Institute of Criminology found two in three offenders arrested by police had at least one drug in their system, not including alcohol. Another study by the AIC on the Drug Use Careers of Offenders shows regular users of amphetamine and heroin self-reported violent and property offences at rates more than five times higher than prisoners with no history of regular drug use.

The memorial money could be better spent preventing more deaths and protecting locals and businesses rather than glorifying those who have died.

Why not build a monument to people who live in the area despite the risks? To the businesses that keep operating despite the drugs on their doorstep? To the families who struggle to keep their children off drugs?

In the meantime, the answer is an injecting room off Victoria St.

A report from the Centre for Research Excellence into Injecting Drug Use from 2013 found the City of Yarra has the highest number of ambulance attendance at heroin-related overdoses of any local government area in Melbourne. It also found there is frequent and regular drug injection on the streets and great risks from discarded syringes. The report concludes an injecting room is necessary as part of a broader range of measures.

I agree. It’s time for action before more people die.

Susie O’Brien is a Herald Sun columnist

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