Heroin scourge of Victoria St worsens, sparking calls for safe injection room to save lives

EXCLUSIVE: MELBOURNE’S heroin scourge is spiralling out of control as the killer narcotic’s cheap price fuels an open-air drug market on the streets.

MELBOURNE’S heroin scourge is spiralling out of control as the killer narcotic’s cheap price fuels an open-air drug market on the streets.

Plentiful heroin as cheap as just $17 a hit is leading to a crisis not seen since the 1990s, and has sparked renewed calls for safe injecting rooms.

Residents in the epicentre of the crisis — Victoria St, North Richmond — have slammed political inaction they blame for a neighbourhood death toll now at more than one a fortnight.

Discarded needles — often uncapped — and other drug litter such as bloodied tissues line suburban streets, home to both young families and older, long-term residents.

Official figures show half of the heroin deaths occur in public — in streets, alleyways, parks, and public toilets.

JUDY RYAN: HOW INJECTION ROOMS WILL SAVE LIVES

Discarded syringes and other drug litter on the streets of Abbotsford near Victoria St. Picture: Supplied

Discarded syringes and other drug litter on the streets of Abbotsford near Victoria St. Picture: Supplied

Residents and outreach workers told the Herald Sun heroin was often about $20 a hit, down from about $50 a few years ago. Some said it could even be as low as $17.

A hit of the drug is now cheaper than a six-pack of beer or a packet of cigarettes.

Community groups, wondering when deaths on the streets became acceptable in the world’s most liveable city, are pleading for a halt to the carnage. The crisis is now at a scale where:

NEEDLE programs give out 70,000 syringes a month;

RESIDENTShave become stand-in first responders, trying to resuscitate victims in the street while waiting for emergency services to arrive;

YARRAcouncil street cleaner doubled sweeps to collect discarded syringes, and;

HANDLES are removed from garden taps to discourage users from getting water for a hit and passing out in yards.

Last year, 190 people died from heroin overdoses statewide, the most since the ’90s.

Community workers said the quality and quantity of the heroin continues to vary.

Two coroners’ reports have called for supervised injecting rooms, or a trial of them.

VICTORIA’S CORONER CALLS FOR LEGAL DRUG-INJECTING ROOM

DRUG DEALERS PLY TRADE ON VICTORIA AND LENNOX STREETS, RICHMOND

The heroin crisis is now at a scale where handles are being removed from garden taps to discourage users from getting water for a hit and passing out in yards. Picture: David Caird

Residents and experts say the successful supervised injection room in King Cross in Sydney should be a blueprint for Richmond.

Two parliamentary committees are now examining the drug problem, but Premier Daniel Andrews has said he went to the election on a “no injecting room” policy.

Mr Andrews said the fact heroin was cheap and accessible was concerning but ruled out supporting the injecting room trial.

“I think that drug use in our community is a very complex issue.

“I know there are some who would like us to go further but I have been vey clear on this I have no intention to change our policy on this but I do note there is a parliamentary inquiry on this underway and I look forward to that report.”

PREMIER DEFIANT ON SAFE HEROIN INJECTION ROOMS

A government spokesman said drug addiction was complex with no single solution and “the government has no plans to introduce a safe injecting facility in Victoria”.

Local MP Richard Wynne, was approached for comment.

Fiona Patten, an Upper House MP who put forward a private member’s Bill for a safe injecting room earlier this year, said no serious organisation opposed them.

“Anyone with any common sense who has been there on the streets will see it is not working and people are dying,’’ the Sex Party MLC said.

“This is not being soft on drugs, this is being smart on drugs. If we do nothing, the residents of North Richmond will continue to have people dying on their streets.

“I’m terribly frustrated and terribly sad,’’ she said.

Derek Troy-West says people are dying in his street on the Abbotsford side of Victoria St. Picture: David Caird

MUM WHO LOST SON TO HEROIN OVERDOSE SUPPORTS SAFE INJECTION ROOM TRIAL

City of Yarra mayor Amanda Stone said a safe injecting room could reduce harm drugs caused, but the government had its head in the sand.

“It’s a no-brainer because there is evidence it works and we can do something about the tragedy of this human misery,’’ Cr Stone said. “I feel it personally — it’s in my neighbourhood. And it’s getting worse.’’

The number of syringes collected by council was significantly higher in 2016 than the previous year, she said.

Victoria Police said there were regular, intelligence-led patrols and operations in Richmond and action was taken against crime or anti-social activity. “Police have charged hundreds of offenders for drug offences in the Yarra area.

“Victoria Police have zero tolerance for drug traffickers.’’

Meca Ho, of the Richmond Traders Association, said Victoria St had become a magnet for addicts and dealers, scaring customers away and making it hard for businesses.

DEATH ON MELBOURNE’S DOORSTEP

DEREK Troy-West describes it as a “cancer in the heart of Melbourne”.

The heroin trade of Victoria St has its sad sequel in the streets that run off the busy thoroughfare.

Used and uncapped syringes and other drug paraphernalia have become part of life for the people who live in these suburban streets.

Mr Troy-West lives in William St, an otherwise typical Melbourne road, on the Abbotsford side of Victoria St. He knows it’s much worse on the North Richmond side.

Derek Troy-West describes the heroin trade as a “cancer in the heart of Melbourne”. Picture: David Caird

“People are dying in our street and it’s not good enough. If you want to put a safe injection room at the bottom of our street, go right ahead.’’

Mr Troy-West says he and other residents were saddened by the death of a 22-year-old woman near the Baker’s Arms pub on Easter Monday.

“How can we let that happen? A young girl, a mother, died on the street.”

PREMIER REFUSES TO SUPPORT SAFE INJECTING ROOM

Flower tributes left for a girl found dead at the end of William St in Abbotsford. Picture: David Caird

His two-year-old son, Byron, has stepped on a syringe, and he’s watched users climb over his toys to knock on the front door to ask for water to carry out their hit.

The businessman, like most residents, is not angry at addicts; rather, his rage is directed at the political inertia on the problem.

“I’ve lived in other cities around the world and I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “I don’t understand how the government can let this happen. It’s disgusting and I’m in one of the better streets.’’

Derek Troy-West and other residents of William St, Abbotsford, who are angry at the syringes and other rubbish dumped in their street. Picture: David Caird

Judy Ryan, secretary of the Residents for Victoria Street Drug Solutions, has had a heroin addict die in front of her as she tried to help. It was barely 100m from the Abbotsford Primary School, at a public toilet known by residents as the “unsafe injecting room”.

Like many of her neighbours who live in the streets that run off Victoria St, she has had to be administer first aid and call 000 for users slumped in the street.

“The people who die here all have family who love them and care about them, who speaks up for them?” she said.

Tony Worsteling lives in Greenwood St and says addicts have been injecting on his doorstep and people have overdosed in nearby laneways.

“These are sons or daughters who need our support and understanding,’’ he said.

Mr Worsteling is a Labor Party member and knows he’s at odds with the state government but hopes the politics can be removed from it.

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