‘Disgusted’: Parents unleash after injecting room becomes permanent next door to school

A disturbing image from a Melbourne primary school is circulating. This is why parents are describing it as a “supermax prison”.

It’s a sight no parent wants their child to see and one this former local will never forget.

In August 2019, mother-of-two Letitia* was picking up her eldest son from West Richmond Primary School when she noticed a woman “shooting up” outside the entrance.

As the end-of-day school bell rang out, the woman injected a substance into her neck using a mirror to help her find the vein.

Parents watched on in horror — struck by a sickening feeling that this scene would play out again before long.

“Unfortunately, when they get to the neck, it means that they‘ve lost all other vein access so that was probably one of the scariest events,” Letitia, who did not wish to reveal her last name, told news.com.au.

Richmond West Primary School is located right next to Melbourne's first medically supervised injecting room. Picture: news.com.au

Four years on, scenes like this continue to flood footpaths, playgrounds and roads along Lennox Street at the school that sits next door to one of the most controversial buildings in Victoria — Melbourne’s first medically-supervised injecting room.

Videos shared online show drug-affected people playing Russian roulette between cars during school pick up, groups of addicts “shooting up” on the footpath with school kids nearby and even unconscious people slouched under trees.

A picture circulating on a Facebook group made up of community members who want the facility moved shows drug-affected people right next to children wearing backpacks and riding scooters.

Footage shows drug affected locals just inches away from school children. Picture: Facebook / @movetheinjectingroom

When news.com.au visited Lennox Street on Tuesday, a man was passed out on the road — his head inches away from passing cars.

But as Letitia recalls, prior to the opening of the safe injection room, it was never like this.

The eldest son of the former Lennox Street resident attended West Richmond Primary School for three years between 2018 and 2021.

The same year he commenced prep, the five-year trial for the centre kicked off. On Tuesday, it was announced the facility would be made permanent.

Letitia described the school she enrolled her son into as a “typical inner city” education facility where there was a standard fence bordering the yard and a main entrance that was never locked.

“It was such a beautiful, welcoming school that it just had everything we wanted of a community and we just thought we were totally blessed,” she said.

But as the effects of the injection room started to pour out into the streets, that blessed feeling quickly faded away.

With the facility adjacent to the school and opposite the family home, Letitia had a front row view as the school turned into what she described as a “jail”.

She says a lack of action to protect her children from drug-users drove her out of her Richmond home and into another state.

One of the school gates could allegedly be opened this much before more stringent security measures were put in place. Picture: Facebook / @movetheinjectingroom

Now two-metre high cyclone fencing surrounds the school. Picture: news.com.au

Today, two-metre high cyclone fencing surrounds the school, designed in a way to prevent pedestrians looking into the grounds.

A number of other security upgrades were also made over the last 18 months with Richmond resident and a former parent at the school, Neil Mallet, comparing the school to a “Supermax prison”.

Speaking to 3AW on Tuesday, he said it was a bad look for the school principal to be showing Education Minister Natalie Hutchins around and saying: “Look how safe we keep these people”.

The father of two boys also shed light on some of the traumatic experiences students had to encounter as a result of the injection room, namely a man entering the school grounds with a knife.

“The kids were told to get under the desk,” Mr Mallet said. “The kids have had to have counselling on the back of that.”

While Letitia now lives in the country’s north, she was still deeply saddened to hear Premier Daniel Andrews announce this week that the centre would be made permanent.

Undercover police with binoculars near Lennox Street where a safe injecting room sits right next to a primary school. Picture: Nicole Garmston

“I‘m disgusted that the education system as well as the government would allow (the facility so close to a school) in any place in Australia,” she said.

“I was actually so disgusted with the state to be honest … it just absolutely astounds me.”

Letitia isn’t the only one who believes the injection room should be relocated away from a school. A news.com.au poll of almost 12,000 readers on Wednesday showed 62 per cent thought the room brought too many drug users to the area.

Almost 30 per cent thought it was an important facility but that putting it next to a school was a bad decision.

Mr Mallet believes the number of prep classes have “completely tanked” since his boys were at the school. He said enrolments were way down on previous years.

While the Department of Education didn’t confirm this, it was noted the school’s enrolments were relatively stable despite pupil numbers dropping from 324 in 2020 to 296 this year.

“Richmond West Primary School has a strong academic record and a diverse student population, delivering the only Chinese immersion bilingual program in Victoria,” Education Minister Natalie Hutchins said.

“We’re proud of the accomplishments students at Richmond West Primary School continue to achieve, backed by the extraordinary parents, teachers and school leaders that provide the support their students need to excel”.

Ms Hutchins made no comment as to whether she supported the idea of the MSIR being located next to the school.

News.com.au also contacted West Richmond Primary School for comment.