Safe Injecting Rooms

[lionking]

Melbourne's inner city council (and the only place in Australia with a socialist representative) the City of Yarra, has voted to open a safe injecting room in one of the most drug-ridden suburbs, Richmond. The conservative State government has vowed not to let it happen.

http://melbourne-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/yarra-council-backs-safe-injecting-room-trial/



I'm inclined to support the council's decision after listening to a heap of health professionals, youth workers and social workers. People die from overdoses and Hep B, which can be minimised by supervised injections. There is one operating in Sydney most successfully.

Needless to say, talkback radio supports the State government's stance - "waste of taxpayers money.......these junkies made a choice.......give the money to cancer sufferers...." and so on. What do you guys think? Do safe injecting rooms work where you are?

 

[Wildy]

I don't think there are any safe injecting rooms here in Adelaide. I do know that there are safe syringe disposal bins in public toilets at places around the city. I would assume that a safe injecting room would help in reducing the number of people dying from overdoses.

I don't really mind the concept. If it can cut down on the number of people who would get a disease from the syringes then that would be a good thing.

The talkback radio people typically seem to be people who just like whining about anything, they could hear that the government is giving everyone a million dollars and they'd still ring up and have some sort of complaint.

 

[stokes234]

I'm all in favour. Mainly because I don't feel people should be left to die because they made bad choices and got addicted to drugs, but i'm also not convinced by the economic argument. It's going to cost the taxpayer alot to treat people if they do get diseases from dirty needles.

 

[lionking]

I'm all in favour. Mainly because I don't feel people should be left to die because they made bad choices and got addicted to drugs, but i'm also not convinced by the economic argument. It's going to cost the taxpayer alot to treat people if they do get diseases from dirty needles.

My view as well, but it's unlikely to prevail here.

 

[philkensebben]

Talkback radio shock jocks, should under no circumstances, ever be listened to for anything other than to laugh at stupidity.

 

[Aepervius]

I am for it, not only because of the ground cited above, but also because in my old build in the basement where the junkie did take their drugs, they abandonned the needle and serynge and I had a few close call on getting one into my skin on my ankle or foot. Same for needle+serynge on place where friends were in a park.

So yeah junkie made their "choice" but by limiting where the stuff is abandonned at elast you can protect the general public.

 

[Segnosaur]

Melbourne's inner city council (and the only place in Australia with a socialist representative) the City of Yarra, has voted to open a safe injecting room in one of the most drug-ridden suburbs, Richmond. The conservative State government has vowed not to let it happen.
...
I'm inclined to support the council's decision after listening to a heap of health professionals, youth workers and social workers. People die from overdoses and Hep B, which can be minimised by supervised injections. There is one operating in Sydney most successfully.

Needless to say, talkback radio supports the State government's stance - "waste of taxpayers money.......these junkies made a choice.......give the money to cancer sufferers...." and so on. What do you guys think? Do safe injecting rooms work where you are?

I think that currently the evidence is unclear.

Most professionals do claim that it saves lives; however, there is at least some evidence that it may be counter-productive. (The argument is that in some cases injection sites are allowing greater social interaction between drug users, which is facilitating the spread of things like HIV.)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1227826/pdf/cmaj_157_3_275.pdf

 

[MG1962]

I'm inclined to support the council's decision after listening to a heap of health professionals, youth workers and social workers. People die from overdoses and Hep B, which can be minimised by supervised injections. There is one operating in Sydney most successfully.

It went through the same birthing pains the one in Melbourne appears to be doing. Like you I am for them, and for most of the same reasons

 

[Egg]

It's hard to know where to draw the line with the "they made a choice" argument. People who participate in extreme sports also made a choice. You could even say that people in car accidents made a choice to drive. Should society not offer them help then?

Generally I think government/society's attitude to drug addiction is in many ways a failure. There's no benefit in criminalising people who need help. It just makes them scared of seeking the help they need. Many of the problems associated with heroin addiction are actually created by the prohibition.

These safe rooms sound like a good idea to me. The Swiss have had some success with this kind of approach (see here). As I understand it, addicts have a chance at some kind of normal life and burglaries have dropped significantly.

 

[Damien Evans]

Another for them. Wasn't there talk of one in Footscray as well?

 

[Segnosaur]

These safe rooms sound like a good idea to me. The Swiss have had some success with this kind of approach (see here). As I understand it, addicts have a chance at some kind of normal life and burglaries have dropped significantly.

Keep in mind that the reduction in burglaries may have an alternate explanation... perhaps the police changed the way they handle crime in the area around the injection sites (increased presence or crackdown on non-legal drug use or crime in the area.)

When Vancouver opened up its "Insite" safe injection site, crime in the area around the site dropped too, but then the police actually increased the number of officers in the area as a preventative measure. This may have contributed to any crime reduction in the area.

From: http://www.bcmj.org/premise/supervised-injection-sites—-view-law-enforcement
Police crackdown on street level dealers and a focus on ad*dicts who use or fix in or near parks and schools are prosecuted, and this has made a huge difference. Enforcement works...It was never more obvious when 40 additional officers patrolled the DTES in 2003.

 

[qayak]

They started several around Vancouver years ago. After concerted efforts by the federal government and local police all have shut down except one. That one is currently the target of the newly elected conservatives.

The one near where I lived closed because the police would sit outside and stop everyone coming and going. That action was supported by the heavily christian population as evidenced by the letters to the editor in the local rag.

Evidence from the remaining safe injection site show that it has had a major impact on the spread of disease and overdoses. But, evidence seldom matters to "believers."

 

[JAStewart]

Portugal.