Safe Injecting Room Richmond Covid

The supervised injecting room in north richmond remains open past melbourne s 8pm curfew as drug users flock to the area while the city is under strict lockdown.

Safe injecting room richmond covid.

The department of health and human services is coordinating a trial of a medically supervised injecting room at north richmond community health. North richmond safe injecting centre opens after mass overdose deaths in a small inner city suburb of melbourne drug use is rampant and flagrant. An outreach worker linked to a medically supervised safe injecting room in melbourne s inner east is among a group of people now charged with trafficking the drug heroin. The victorian government is trialling a medically supervised injecting room at the north richmond community health site in north richmond melbourne.

The supervised injecting room in north richmond has reported positive cases of covid 19 just weeks after residents voiced their anger at drug users flouting the rules. Furious residents living near melbourne s safe injecting room say roaming drug users are gathering en masse without face masks defecating in side streets and leaving used syringes outside homes. The service was established for an initial two year trial period which will be extended for a further three years based on the evidence gathered in the initial period. With over 170 deaths caused by heroin overdoses in 2016 and a significant amount of those occurring in the streets of richmond and abbotsford alone the approval of a 6 month trial for a safe injecting room sir in richmond is a step closer to acknowledging a growing support for harm minimisation from drug use.

North richmond has been the hub of victoria s heroin trade for two decades and a safe injecting room was recommended by the coroner after a spate of drug related deaths in the area.