A western suburbs MP has called for a medically supervised injecting room (MSIR) to be opened in Footscray and Brimbank.
Western Metropolitan MP David Ettershank, who represents Legalise Cannabis Victoria, raised the issue in state Parliament recently after the state government made the decision to scrap a proposed MSIR in Melbourne’s CBD.
The Braybrook-based MP said facilities were needed in the west in Brimbank and Footscray, as well as in St Kilda, Frankston and Dandenong.
“This need is manifest. We should be pressuring the government to show some moral fortitude,” he said.
“There have been multiple reviews of MSIRs in general in Victoria and of the North Richmond MSIR in particular. They all conclude that supervised injecting rooms work in saving lives and, more importantly, in helping people move towards recovery. Both in Richmond, and in jurisdictions across the world, it has been proven that these places save lives and the wrap around services they provide deliver a pathway to recovery and rebuilding lives, allowing people to deal with their trauma, their homelessness, their mental health and their broken relationships.”
Last year, the Victorian Coroner released the Victorian overdose deaths report which revealed that Maribyrnong recorded the state’s third-highest number of overdose deaths in Victoria.
The report showed that 22 people in Maribyrnong died of overdoses in 2022, the highest figure in the municipality in the past 10 years.
It was up from 14 in 2021 and was only fourth behind the Melbourne local government area, which recorded 32 deaths.
Maribyrnong was also fourth for the number of heroin overdoses in 2022.
Fourteen people died of heroin overdose in 2022 – almost three times the number from the year before which stood at five.
Mr Ettershank said Victoria should be looking at establishing more MSIR facilities where they are needed.
“These are the facts: people suffering from addiction will use drugs whether there is an injecting room available or not,” he said.
“… Without a safe place to inject drugs, people will continue to inject in alleyways, in car parks and in the unoccupied spaces behind primary schools. When there is a safe place to inject, a safe injecting facility, they will use that,” he said.
A state government spokesperson said it has no plans to establish additional medically supervised injecting services and it is “fully committed” to continuing the operation of the North Richmond MSIR.
“Victorians struggling with addiction deserve our care wherever they are, and our statewide plan will save lives by boosting support services throughout our suburbs and regions,” the spokesperson said.
