Some 140 drug addicts have overdosed in Melbourne’s first ‘safe injecting room’ within two months of opening.
The safe injecting room, located in the North Richmond Community Health Centre, was placed in an overdose hot spot, and is the first of its kind to open in Victoria.
About 8,000 people have used the supervised injecting room since late June, with staff responding to 140 overdoses, the government announced on Friday.
Some 140 drug addicts have overdosed in Melbourne’s first ‘safe injecting room’ within two months of opening (pictured is a bed inside the safe room)
The safe injecting room, located in the North Richmond Community Health Centre, was placed in an overdose hot spot, and is the first of its kind to open in Victoria (syringes are pictured)
‘Two months in, the medically-supervised injecting room is doing exactly what we hoped. It’s saving lives,’ Minister for Housing, Disability and Ageing, Martin Foley, told reporters on Friday.
Construction on a purpose-built $4.9 million publicly-funded facility in the centre’s car park is due to begin in September.
The new building aims to keep up with high demand for the injecting room and boost treatment and counselling provided.
Without the centre, the minister said people would have overdosed ‘in alleyways, in car parks, in the schoolyard and suffered terrible, lonely trauma as a result, and sadly too many deaths’.
The safe injecting room, located in the North Richmond Community Health Centre, was placed in an overdose hot spot, and is the first of its kind to open in Victoria
The facilities at the new Medically Supervised Injecting Room in Melbourne
Its medical director, Dr Nico Clark, said drug users were ‘very happy’ with the service (products inside the centre pictured)
Its medical director, Dr Nico Clark, said drug users were ‘very happy’ with the service.
‘They feel like it’s a safe place for them to come, a place where they can have a positive interaction with health staff and where when can not only use the drugs they’re using in a safe way but also find access to other treatment,’ he said.
The injecting room is modelled on Sydney’s Kings Cross centre. It is due to be reviewed in 2020 and possibly extended for another year.