Drug rehabilitation services have backed a push from crossbench MP Fiona Patten for three more safe injecting rooms in Melbourne’s suburbs.
Ms Patten, who is an Upper House MP and the leader of the Reason Party, suggested the new sites be set up at St Kilda, Footscray and Dandenong.
They would take the state’s safe injecting facilities to five, including the site that has run at North Richmond since 2018 and another planned for Melbourne’s CBD near the Queen Victoria Market.
“When you look at the ambulance callout statistics it’s very clear that we need these types of centres in other areas of Melbourne, not just Richmond,” Ms Patten said.
“The reason the injecting room was opened in North Richmond was because the community was concerned,” she said.
“They were concerned about the 24/7 ambulance callouts, the people dying literally in their front gardens, the people overdosing on their front footpath.
“There is similar community concern in other areas of Melbourne.”
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