‘Honeypot effect’: Yarra Councillor says safe injecting room has seen drug users flock to streets of Richmond

The North Richmond safe injecting facility has seen drug users flock to the suburb, but not to all necessarily take advantage of the medical services made available to them, a Yarra City Councillor says.

Stephen Jolly, City of Yarra Councillor, told Neil Mitchell the amount of drug users in the local area has doubled.

“It’s saved 140 lives so obviously that’s good, that has to be acknowledged,” Mr Jolly said.

“But it’s brought in a lot of people to the area using drugs more than normal, there are roughly 200 using the facility, another 200 shooting up on the street, buying drugs and sometimes involved in low level crime to finance their habits.

“The situation on the street is getting worse, not better.

“The trial is a joke, we’re supposedly half way through a trial and there’s a building site there, they’re actually expanding it, so the trial is just an insult to the intelligence of locals.

“It has had a honeypot effect of some kind.”

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“I’ve heard of people seeking to move out of North Richmond public housing estate, asking the Department of Housing for transfers, because they’re just fed up with the situation on the ground,” he added.

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