More potent heroin being sold on Melbourne’s streets is causing increased overdoses in the CBD, and community health organizations claim they are collapsing under the added pressure.
The Melbourne city centre had the highest number of fatal heroin overdoses of local government region between July 2020 and June 2022, according to the data from the Victorian Coroner’s Court. 29 people passed away, then 28 people in Brimbank and 23 people in the City of Yarra.
According to Youth Projects’ data, which oversees a number of drug safety programs, 12,000 clean syringe kits are now distributed each month, and 1,000 more people each month are using their needle and syringe program.
Ben Vasiliou, the chief executive of Youth Projects, stated that as heroin usage rises, they expect the number of clients in need of services to approach pre-pandemic levels by June.
According to Vasiliou, drug use patterns are changing in the CBD, and dangerous injecting in laneways and public restrooms is on the rise.
We’re busier than ever, and the intersection of economic pressures and homelessness is increasing the strain on CBD-based services.
A higher strength of heroin on the streets combined with a lower level of community tolerance has led to an increase in overdoses, according to Cohealth, a community health organization and the supplier of choice for the second safe-injecting room.
“We’re attending more overdoses, as well as we’re seeing a significant increase in need for people wanting naloxone, which is overdose-reversing drug,” Greg Denham, the community partnerships facilitator, said.
The signs demonstrate that the purity and quality of the substance have both improved as heroin is becoming more widely available.
He claimed that as the heroin supply decreased during the pandemic lockdown, individuals turned to other narcotics to get by. However, with borders now again open, a glut of heroin on the market, and people using the same dosage as before COVID, overdoses have increased sharply.
Cohealth’s City Street Health team made contact with 100 customers in July, compared to 285 in January and 254 in February, nearly a threefold increase over the previous six months.
We significantly rely on our personal observations of what we are seeing in the city since there is a lag in the data, according to Denham. “Over the past six to eight months, there has been a significant increase in our outreach team.”
The ideal location for the second safe-injecting room, which is thought to be the former Yooralla building on Flinders Street, will be recommended in a report by former police commissioner Ken Lay into practicality of a second safe-injecting room in the CBD that is due to be finished this month.
We cannot allow bureaucrats to continuously veto proposed places, he continued. There will be disgruntled traders no matter where you place it. But in all honesty, it’s either dissatisfied merchants or more fatalities.
The Richmond facility has treated more than 6,000 overdoses and saved 63 lives, according to Dan Lubman, clinical director of Turning Point, the nation’s centre for addiction research. There have been no fatalities at the facility.
“We know [the Richmond clinic] plays an important role in reducing ambulance callouts for opioid overdoses, and we’re seeing fewer overdose admissions for the nearest public emergency departments,” Lubman said. “So we are aware that it helps save lives.
We also know that the CBD has substantial rates of opioid overdoses, so it is important to place services there for maximum effect.
