The Victorian Greens have thrown their support behind an open letter released today calling for the creation of a medically supervised injection room (MSIR) in Melbourne’s CBD.
In the open letter, co-signed by several organizations including the Australian Medical Association Victoria, the Royal Australian College of GPs Victoria and Cohealth, the signatories indicated that unsafe injections had worsened in the city of Melbourne.
Victoria’s leading medical bodies and unions are putting renewed pressure on the Victorian Labor Government to stop dragging its heels and urgently implement an MSIR in the city.
Melbourne residents have been waiting for years for the Labor government to deliver on its promise of a medically supervised injection room.
And for every day that passes without this vital service, people die from overdoses, lives are put in danger and the harm caused by drugs continues.
The letter said more than 40 people had died in the CBD from drug overdoses in the past three years. So for these major medical organizations and unions in Victoria, drug harms have increased and the threat of fentanyl looms, making this service even more urgent.
“Countless more people have suffered non-fatal overdoses on the city’s streets…[and] there have been over a thousand heroin-related ambulance calls in the CBD,” indicates the letter.
The Greens say today’s letter calling for an overdose prevention center and override facilities in the city must force the Andrews government to finally act.
Victorian Greens drug harm reduction spokesperson Aiv Puglielli said everyone should have access to this life-saving care and resuscitation.
He said Melburnians had waited long enough, given an MSIR in the city was promised three years ago.
“Labor has delayed this decision for three years and created so much uncertainty as people lose their lives and drug abuse continues on our streets,” he said.
The Greens also called on Labor to open more injection centers across the state to ensure people get help where they need it and so people don’t need to travel long distances to receive medical care.
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