It’s just after 9am when the Richmond Supervised Injecting Room opens its doors to its first client.

WARNING: This story contains descriptions of drug use.

A young woman has brought in a small bag of heroin which she likely scored nearby.

The injecting room’s team leader Sarah Hiley has an obvious rapport with her and asks, “When was the last time you injected?”

The woman replies, “Um, yesterday.”

The pair say goodbye and the woman enters the injecting room where, with the help of staff, she will inject heroin and then be on her way.

Within an hour-and-a-half people are streaming through the doors of the five-year-old centre, greeting friendly staff and declaring what drugs they’re about to “shoot up”. Heroin is the drug of choice, although any drug can be taken here, as long as it’s injected.

Ms Hiley has worked at the centre since it opened and says making the clients feel at ease is key to the service running smoothly.

“Drug use is a stigmatising topic … so for a lot of our clients being accepted as you are is a really important thing,” she tells 7.30.

Inside the injecting room, clients sit at a small booth. At a distance it looks like they’re sitting an exam, but the clients here are readying themselves for a drug hit.

Oxygen tanks adorn the walls behind the booths, on stand-by in the case of an overdose. About 6,000 have been managed here according to a recent report.

Some long-term users struggle to find undamaged veins, so staff members help them using a “vein finder”. It’s a light source that illuminates veins under the skin and helps them locate a usable vein to inject.

Most users are completely silent as the drugs enter their bloodstream; others talk to users in neighbouring booths.

Hardly any of the drug users appear to be euphoric or “high” once they’ve injected – many of them just get up casually and leave. Others hang around with staff. One user diligently attempts the local broadsheet’s weekend pop quiz.

Ms Hiley explains this is because heroin is no longer enjoyable for many of the users here, but its addictive nature keeps them hooked.

This is just another day at the safe injecting room in Melbourne’s inner east.

Ms Hiley says that the injecting centre is a community – staff know and care for many of the users.

“For us, what we find is that a lot of people need to build up trust with us in order to be able to engage with us well, so it’s really important that we as staff prioritise rapport building,” she says.

Controversy over centre

The centre was established as a trial in 2018 but the Victorian government intends to make it permanent.

Some Richmond residents are against it, saying it’s exacerbated the existing drug problem.

Local resident Sharon Neven likened the area to Skid Row, the notorious central Los Angeles strip known for its rampant drug trade and tragic homelessness.

“It’s like a ghetto,” she says, describing the gritty streets of the Yarra-adjacent suburb. When questioned whether this was an exaggeration, she replies, “No, because there’s drug dealers sitting outside [the local supermarket] all day, every day.”

Ms Neven explains that her major concern is that the injecting centre is next to a local primary school and drug users loiter around the nearby park.

Those in support of the centre say the detractors are concerned about their house prices and are disappointed the historic drug problem hasn’t drifted further away into the suburbs.

Ms Neven vehemently denies this, saying, “This is my home. I’m going to live here till I die. I care about these people, I care about the kids [at the local school].”

Back at the centre Ms Hiley says it has been hugely successful in taking drug use off the streets – 350,000 injections that could’ve been in full public view were instead taken inside the four walls of the centre.

“Drug injecting rooms need to be near where the [drug] market is, otherwise no one will come to them,” she says.

One drug user agrees, telling 7.30 the area is still heaving with drug dealers and the injecting centre is in the right location.

“It’s very easy to [buy drugs here] if you want. It’s very easy,” he says, explaining that a small amount of heroin can cost as little as $50 on nearby Victoria Street.

The user says the centre has gradually improved the area and has changed his life. He’s currently accessing the other services in the facility which includes Buvidal injections, a powerful opioid craving suppressant.

“It’s been massive,” he says. “Without them I don’t know where I’d be, but it’s been great because it’s allowed me to get on top of my addiction and work out, go to work, get on top of my life.”

Ms Hiley says she regularly witnesses similar stories; people using the centre, then investigating the other services to kick their habit.

She acknowledges it’s controversial but insists the centre is working.

“Everyone that walks through this door is someone’s daughter, someone’s mother, someone’s sister,” she says. 

“People do not choose to suddenly have a drug habit that’s problematic in their lives. So if we say, ‘Your drug use is bad, we’re not going to give you any support,’ how are they meant to make any changes in their lives?”

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