Richmond drug worker caught shooting up in nearby driveway

A worker from the Richmond needle exchange has been caught shooting up on camera — just 120 metres away from the site of Victoria’s controversial injecting room. Warning: Disturbing content.

Warning: Disturbing content

A worker at the site of Victoria’s controversial injecting rooms has been caught on camera shooting up just 120 metres away.

The casual employee, who worked at the needle exchange in the same building as the injecting rooms, snubbed the centre to instead shoot up in a nearby private driveway.

North Richmond Community Health confirmed that the man was dismissed after the confronting footage came to light in February.

DRUG OVERDOSES NEAR SAFE INJECTING ROOM ON RISE

POLICE FEARS ON RICHMOND DRUG INJECTION ROOM

It has renewed pressure on the state’s injecting room trial, which residents say has worsened the drug crisis in the inner-city suburb and sparked more violent behaviour.

But the state government has defended the program had saved lives.

CCTV footage appears to show two men shooting up close to the controversial injecting room in Richmond.

The resident whose property was subjected to the drug use told the Herald Sun that the “brazen” act showed the “level of desperation” in the area.

“I’m never surprised by what I am seeing anymore,” he said.

“It has never been worse than it is now. It is so obvious that it has had a honey-pot effect and this trial has attracted a more violent user.”

The CCTV footage appeared to show two men injecting themselves in the driveway.

One verbally abused a passer-by who told the pair that the injecting room was down the road, threatening to smash her phone and labelling her “gutter trash”.

It is not clear which of the men was employed at the needle exchange.

The injecting room opened in Richmond last June. Picture: Nicole Garmston

Ambulance Victoria data shows a spike in calls out to North Richmond Community Health in recent months — having dipped to two in June last year when the centre opened before surging to 20 in January.

The incidents included call-outs for assault, stabbing, overdoses and mental health issues.

Residents have reported drug users shooting up in cars and on the street, increasing verbal abuse and that a woman today ”went to the toilet” in a Richmond front yard.

Students from nearby Richmond West Primary School were also forced to witness two drug users injecting each other in the neck as they left school on Friday.

A petition to relocate the drug injecting room had almost 900 signatures last night, ahead of a crisis community meeting on Wednesday.

A blood-filled needle in a Richmond laneway, one week after the injecting room opened. Picture: Nicole Garmston

INJECTING ROOM IS ‘SAVING LIVES’

ADDICTS OPT OUT OF INJECTING ROOM

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the government had mishandled the drug injecting trial, with supporters even now “critical of unforeseen consequences”.

“What does it say about the injecting room when a staff member from the needle exchange program shoots up on the footpath around the corner from the injecting room?” she said.

But Mental Health Minister Martin Foley said the injecting rooms had saved lives and was “keeping Victorians safe”.

Figures released in February found the centre had received about 40,000 visits and reversed about 650 overdoses since it opened in June last year.

“The hundreds of Victorians who lose their lives to drugs are more than just statistics — they are much-loved sons, daughters, parents and friends,” Mr Foley said.

[e-mail]

@moniquehore