CEO stood down after injecting centre workers charged with drug trafficking offences

Two workers linked to a Melbourne injecting centre charged with drug trafficking offences.

Demos Krouskos, the CEO of North Richmond Community Health. Picture: Supplied

The chief executive of the health service which operates Melbourne’s first drug injecting centre has been stood down as a review into the facility is called after two workers linked to the centre were charged with drug trafficking offences.

The independent review will investigate whether North Richmond Community Health failed to prevent alleged criminal activity by its staff and will be headed by Dr Joanna Flynn.

Demos Krouskos, the CEO North Richmond Community Health, has been stood down for the course of the investigation.

The interim CEO will be Adam Horsburgh, who is currently the Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer of Melbourne Health.

Two outreach workers, a 49-year-old Richmond man and a 36-year-old Brunswick West woman, were arrested by Victoria Police on Thursday over charges of drug trafficking. The man will face Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday.

A police spokeswoman said it would not be alleged any of the offences being investigated took place at the North Richmond Community Health centre, which is at the same location as the injecting rooms.

The North Richmond Community Health centre, the site of Melbourne’s first drug injecting centre. Picture: Andrew Tauber

Neither of the pair charged by police worked directly inside the injecting rooms, it has been reported, with the pair hired as community outreach workers whose job was partly to bring drug users to the facility.

Police said the woman was ­arrested at the health facility, while the man was taken into custody nearby, in Victoria Street, Richmond.

North Richmond Community Health confirmed two of its staff members had been stood down and it would “co-operate fully” with police.

“The allegations against staff employed at the North Richmond Health Service are very serious,” Acting Mental Health Minister Luke Donnellan said yesterday.

Opposition police spokesman David Southwick said the drug injecting facility had failed. “What else needs to go wrong before the Andrews government starts listening to the community concerns regarding this injecting facility?” Mr Southwick said.

He said the government should investigate whether the ­licence to operate the facility had been breached.

Six other people were arrested as part of the investigation, which saw homes raided in Richmond and Burnside Heights.

Acting Superintendent Kelvin Gale said police believed the ­arrests would “have an impact on the level of drug trafficking in the Richmond area. While we recognise those who use illicit drugs have a health problem, we also know drugs are a big contributor to crime in Victoria.

“That’s why we run operations focused on street-level drug dealing and possession as well as drug trafficking in the area.”