Rare interview: The medical boss of Richmond’s injecting rooms was initially ‘perplexed’ by placement

The Medical Director of Victoria’s first medically-supervised drug injecting centre says claims about the number of lives being saved in the first 12 months of the trial have been overstated.

Dr Nico Clark says not all of the 1200 overdoses would have resulted in deaths.

He said more time is needed to break down the data for an accurate assessment.

In a rare and wide-ranging interview with Neil Mitchell, Dr Clark also admitted he was “perplexed” when he first learned the injecting centre was being placed next to a primary school.

“But you need to think what was there before … and what are the alternatives,” he said.

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