Heroin scourge: Used syringes puncture tyres as Richmond’s drug crisis worsens

DIRTY syringes littering the street outside a playground have been stabbed into the tyres of parked cars in the latest sign of North Richmond’s escalating heroin crisis.

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DIRTY syringes littering the street outside a playground have been stabbed into the tyres of parked cars in the latest sign of North Richmond’s escalating heroin crisis.

Used needles were strewn across Lennox St this week. On Saturday, needles were jabbed into the wheels of three cars and a motorbike.

The latest headache for residents came amid public uproar over a council plan for a memorial for hundreds of fatal overdose victims.

Syringes stuck into the tyres of vehicles in and near Lennox St, Richmond. Pic supplied.

Syringes litter streets around Victoria St, and recently needles were stabbed into two tyres of a business’s delivery van. And there has been angst between local security guards and drug users they stop from loitering.

“It’s just chaos down here. It’s ground zero for the heroin industry in Victoria,” Yarra’s Cr Stephen Jolly said.

“Residents are dealing with (this) every day. It’s stress for ordinary families, not knowing if their kids are going to step on a needle.”

Two needles were found at an entrance to a playground while scores more were cleared from the footpath and gutters by a council contractor.

A syringe stuck into the tyres of a motorbike in Richmond. Pic supplied.

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One resident told the Herald Sun the needle vandalism of cars was in retaliation for a crackdown on street crime.

“The woman who owns the car with both tyres stabbed was staying with her mum because her house burnt down,” another said.

“Single mum, no insurance. She was devastated then that she had to go and buy two new tyres as well.”

A council spokesman said discarded syringes in Lennox St were reported on Saturday.

Judy Ryan, who is campaigning for a safe injecting room in Richmond.

Locals said the vandalism was a further sign that CCTV and security guards were no answer to the heroin crisis.

Richmond local and education worker Judy Ryan said she feared more lives would be lost in alleys and streets if the government did not commit to finding a solution.

“Security guards and CCTV is not going to fix the problem ... it just displaces people,” said Ms Ryan, also the secretary of the Residents for Victoria Street Drug Solutions. “Do you want a perception of safety or do you want actual safety?”

It was time both sides of politics moved on a trial for safe injecting rooms, a move supported by the council.

Yarra mayor Amanda Stone compared the memorial, proposed by a fellow Green councillor, with roadside tributes to road victims. She said the idea had support and she would await feedback. The state government gave a $200,000 grant to improve the Victoria-Lennox St intersection but any memorial would be paid for from council funds.

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