Heroin user says government putting politics above lives in scrapping second injecting room
A 20-year heroin user says the Victorian government is putting politics above human life in scrapping a second supervised injecting centre.
A long-term heroin user says injecting rooms save lives and the Victorian government has put politics above the health and safety of citizens by scrapping a second injecting centre in Melbourne.
Fitzroy man Chris’ use of heroin spiralled after the death of his son.
But the 50-year-old had an epiphany one morning, did an intense rapid detox and now considers himself a minimal user.
The 20-year-user and full-time landscape gardener would rather get a $20 hit than pay $80 a week for morphine to alleviate pain from damaged vertebrae in his neck.
He gets one, maybe two hits of heroin each week.
“Depends on how badly I hurt it (my neck) at work. But it’s nothing like a raging habit or addiction,” he said.
“Morphine costs through the bloody roof. When I can come down here and get a 20 and my back’s fine for the next week,” he says referencing drug dealers in the general Richmond area.
“I had a 20-year addiction. I thought, this is bullshit, I’m sick and tired of making these f***ing drug dealers rich. I want my f***ing life back.
“I just woke up and had enough of it.”
After some four years of debate, consultation, a pandemic and various reports, the state government put a line through a second proposed supervised injection centre this week.
The centre had been proposed for one of three spots in the CBD, but instead the government has committed $95m for a statewide action plan.
The action plan includes a community health hub with wraparound services at 244 Flinders Street due to open in 2026, which will trial a supervised daily drug-replacement therapy.
A highly controversial supervised injecting centre in Richmond opened in 2019, between housing estate flats and a school.
Chris spoke to NCA NewsWire outside the centre after picking up syringes on Wednesday.
“These rooms bloody save lives. The government should realise that,” he said.
“School kids should not see stuff like that. I mean, for Christ’s sake … they shouldn’t be subjected to people like us who, for a multitude of reasons, use drugs.
“Before these injecting rooms were even in place, how many people were dying on the streets 20 years ago? At least 20 a week and that was just in Smith Street, Fitzroy.”
Chris saw three overdosing people have their lives saved in the past 10 days at the Richmond centre.
He shared some of the concerns from business owners in the CBD about an injection centre being bad for trade and tough for police.
“I could probably see why Flinders would be a bad choice for it … You don’t want people using in the heart of Flinders Street. I could sort of understand why they’ve refused that spot,” he said.
An injecting centre in Flinders Street would bring dealers and rough sleepers to the area, Chris said, but he would have liked a discreet second centre down a small street such as Little Collins or Flinders Lane.
“You can’t do that, put them on display or on show. We’re people mate,” he said of users being judged in a high traffic area.
And he says intravenous users do feel judged and disregarded by the government.
“If they put them (injecting centres) in the high areas of drug use, that’s lives saved. So they force us to vote. And yet, they don’t want to do anything to save the lives of the voters.
“They want their vote, but they won’t save their lives for it,” Mr Mattey said.
In announcing the abandoned second injection room this week, Premier Jacinta Allan and Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt said the centres save lives, but a site suitable for businesses, residents and users in the CBD simply could not be found.
The Premier and Mental Health Minister’s offices declined to respond directly to Chris’ comments, instead referred to the multiple press conferences and responses issued on the topic during the week.
Asked by media on Tuesday if scrapping the second centre was the government putting politics ahead of policy, the Premier said her government was “taking action now to save lives”.
“It is about making sure that we are building on the foundations that we already have in supporting a health-led harm minimisation approach … and that includes, and we are proud, the safe injecting room in North Richmond. We are proud to have driven the establishment of that service,” Ms Allan said.
Speaking to media on Wednesday, the Premier said the new action plan was a “recommitment” to the Richmond centre and would bolster “wonderful” community outreach programs by $2.4m.
The Richmond centre and any proposed CDB site were different because many organisations had been calling for a service in Richmond for years, the Premier said.
Ms Allan stressed many sites in the CBD were looked at but somewhere suitable could not be found, so the government chose to “take action now” with the statewide action plan.
“Ninety per cent of heroin overdoses occur outside of the CBD. This is a statewide problem” the Premier said repeatedly.
Asked about concerns a CBD health hub would see users injecting in nearby alleys and overdosing, the Premier said the hub would have wraparound supports and complement the outreach services.
“We know from the work that we’ve done to date that this is going to be an important addition to providing support for people who use drugs,” the Premier said of the CBD hub.
But Chris simply says another injecting room will rescue people.
“If your kids ever did it (heroin), you’d want places like this to save their lives,” Mr Mattey said.
“You don’t want to get a phone call in the middle of the day or a week later thinking ‘Where are they?’ And then you get the call that they’ve been dead a week.”
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