Confronting pic of druggie near safe injecting room holding syringe

A community group advocating for a safe injecting room to be moved have shared a confronting photo of a drug user holding a syringe.

A Melbourne safe injecting room is a “honey pot for users” that has led to as many as 18,000 syringes being picked up by the local council per month, the Victorian opposition said on Thursday.

A Bill to make the controversial safe injecting room permanent is being debated in the Victorian upper house this week, with a final vote also a possibility this week.

The Liberal and National Party sought amendments this week that would ensure the facility, which is located in the inner-city suburb of North Richmond and is next to a primary school and a community health complex, needed be at least 250m from a primary school.

This confronting image was shared on a community Facebook page on Wednesday. It shows a man apparently experiencing an overdose and clutching syringes. Picture: Facebook

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier told the upper house on Thursday that the facility had led to horror stories, such as a 79-year-old woman being “barricaded” inside her state housing unit due to drug users injecting outside her front door.

Reading from an email that had been sent by the woman, Ms Crozier said the woman had been verbally abused, with the area around her house now littered with used, bloody syringes.

“I’ve been barricaded in my room on occasions,” Ms Crozier said, quoting the email.

“It’s been a horrific experience.”

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the City of Yarra collects as many as 18,000 syringes each month since the safe injecting room opened. Picture NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

Ms Crozier said the City of Yarra now collects 12-18,000 syringes per month, up from a previous average of 1200.

She accused the Labor government of “not listening to some major community concerns”.

It comes as local residents plan to protest on the steps of Parliament House on Thursday morning.

A photograph shared by a community Facebook page advocating for the injecting room to be relocated on Wednesday showed a man suffering an apparent overdose on a North Richmond footpath, clutching needles in his hands.

More to come