Three arrested, one suspected overdose near Richmond injecting room as second drug worker caught shooting up
A second drug worker at the site of Victoria’s controversial injecting room has been caught shooting up in public. It comes as three people were arrested in a police crackdown on drug dealing nearby, before paramedics were called to treat a suspected overdose victim.
VIC News
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A second worker at the site of Victoria’s controversial drug-injecting room has been caught shooting up in public, sparking a review of the health service’s staff policies.
The revelation comes as police launched a crackdown on drug dealing in the streets near the North Richmond injecting room.
A fiery meeting of local residents on Wednesday has added to the increasing pressure on the Andrews Government to combat the “honey pot effect” of the room.
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On Thursday, two men and a woman were arrested — and a needle and a small package confiscated — on Lennox St about 1.45pm.
Less than two hours later, paramedics were called to the nearby injecting room where they stretchered out a suspected overdose victim.
The state government has asked North Richmond Community Health to review its staffing policies, after the Herald Sun confirmed a second employee had been photographed publicly injecting.
The woman was seen in recent months shooting up in her car, 100m from the community health centre where she works. The injecting room is on the same site.
It is understood she has kept her job, despite the dismissal of a casual needle-exchange employee who shot up in a nearby private driveway in February.
The health service would not answer questions about staff on Thursday, saying only that all employees were expected to be “fit for work”.
Mental Health Minister Martin Foley said that the government-ordered review would “ensure the safety of clients, staff and the broader community”.
He again defended the injecting room, saying it had saved lives since it opened almost a year ago.
“That’s precisely what the centre is designed to do,” he said.
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But furious locals at Wednesday’s community summit called for the injecting room to be relocated. One told the Herald Sun that the trial space had created the “perfect environment” for dealing, worsening the situation “tenfold”.
“It is a bonanza for drug use,” the resident said. “It is unacceptable. Why should you create a drug market in one of Melbourne’s densest suburbs?”
Joanne Mai of the Victoria Lounge cafe on Victoria St said the public drug use was hurting business.
“It brings more drug users to the area and they don’t actually use the room. They throw out syringes and block my bins with them,” she said.
“It would be good if something could be done.”
About 2200 registered users have visited the centre more than 40,000 times, with more than 650 overdoses reversed.
Just one in five has sought advice on drug treatments, more than one-third has been treated for hepatitis C, and 10 per cent asked for mental health referrals.
Reason Party leader Fiona Patten, who long advocated for injecting rooms, said residents’ concerns were founded but that their “expectations of what the centre could do might have been overblown”.
She called for a number of measures to “improve” the operation of the centre, including extended operating hours, the relocation of the needle exchange, a police community hub on Lennox St and street outreach workers.
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An expanded injecting centre is currently being built, more than doubling its current capacity from eight to 20 booths.
“We should remember that this centre is seeing 200 people a day,” Ms Patten said.
“What we are doing at the moment is saving lives, and there is no doubt there is less open street injecting than there was 10 months ago.”
But Opposition mental health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the mismanagement of the injecting trial had cause “unforeseen consequences”.
“There’s clearly a very big problem when multiple staff members who are funded by taxpayers are shooting up drugs around the corner from the injecting room,” she said.