A woman high on meth has been filmed stumbling around at a family-friendly reserve near Melbourne’s controversial injecting room.
The drug-affected woman was seen smoking and wandering aimlessly at Powlett Reserve in East Melbourne in the early evening in late October.
A mother-of-one who lives nearby said the neighbourhood had become overrun with drug addicts, and said she had beem spat on and threatened by a man shooting up outside her home.
The 45-year-old, who is too frightened to give her last name, asked the drug addict if he was okay, before he held his needle in front of her face and told her to ‘f*** off’.
She said the area is now full of drug users who refuse to utilise the clinic on Lennox Street, North Richmond.
‘I told him to use the injecting room and he assaulted me and spat on me,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘That was the first time I’ve ever called police and reported an assault in this area since I moved here in 2003.’
Charlotte (pictured right with her eight-year-old son) lives just streets away from the controversial injecting room in North Richmond
Charlotte says she was spat on and threatened by a drug addict (pictured right and left) who had been shooting up outside her home
Charlotte and her husband also claimed drug addicts are using school playgrounds to perform sex acts.
She said she witnessed a man pulling down his pants and exposing himself to urinate on the street while she was grocery shopping with her eight-year-old son.
Charlotte, who has lived in east Melbourne for 16 years, said she never felt unsafe until the injecting room was opened last year.
The mother decided to speak out after two social workers were arrested with drug supply at the safe injecting room at the North Richmond Community Health Centre (pictured) and were fired
The concerned couple claimed they have spotted a man and a woman who regularly shoot up in the laneway where they they live with their son.
Just last Thursday, Charlotte said she caught the pair shooting up one morning.
‘When I found them, they were getting their drug equipment out of their bags preparing to inject,’ she said.
‘They are also seen shooting up at the park across the road, where there is a children’s playground, child care centre and maternal health nurse.’
Charlotte says this man and woman (pictured) regularly shoot up in the laneway where she lives with her family
When her husband spotted the pair in the same place one afternoon, he began to film them.
‘What’s going on here? This is private property. You can’t be here. Are you taking drugs?’ he could be heard saying in the video.
They denied taking drugs and said they were just drinking alcohol.
After being told to leave, the man yelled at Charlotte’s husband: ‘Your wife is a nosey b****. Go away mate! It’s not your laneway! F*** off!’
She also says she is unable to return to her favourite coffee shop after witnessing a man shooting up outside.
A resident told Charlotte she was yelled at by a woman on drugs who called her a ‘f***ing c***’.
‘I decided with my husband it was no longer safe to go to that coffee shop because people are pulling penises out and shooting up in the street,’ she said.
Charlotte decided to speak out after two social workers were arrested with drug supply at the safe injecting room at the North Richmond Community Health Centre and were fired.
She noted that the injecting room, referred to by residents as ‘Dan’s Drug Den’ in a reference to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews who approved the facility, was opened right next to a primary school, which saw drug users injecting themselves in the neck at 3pm, while children were going home.
‘What should we be telling our children? I want to bring up a thoughtful and caring citizen but what we’re seeing is a frightening array of anti-social behaviour no one should have to see,’ Charlotte told Daily Mail Australia.
While Charlotte says she’s not against safe injecting rooms, she says the facility has been put in the wrong place.
‘People trying to get help from the centre are being pushed further into drug use by people who work there,’ she said.
‘The trial is failing drug users, residents and all Victorians who expect our Government to act responsibly when it comes to the drug crisis.
‘Dan’s Drug Den needs to be closed until the Government can find a better solution that protects the interests of all Victorians.’
She is unable to return to her favourite coffee shop at the Hive Shopping Centre (pictured) after witnessing a man shooting up outside
Charlotte said her son (pictured) has been confronted with an array of anti-social behaviour in an area flooded by drug addicts