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Beyond Direct Policing

June 2013

  • Greg Denham

Addressing the problem with community engagement in North Richmond and Abbotsford

The Yarra Drug and Health Forum (YDHF) was formed 17 years ago as a means to engage the community of the City of Yarra in action around illicit drug issues. At that time the City of Yarra, along with several other local government areas, was known as a ‘hot spot’ with the public injecting of heroin commonplace. The impact of heroin injecting and overdose was so significant in many parts of Melbourne that a daily ‘heroin toll’ was listed alongside the road toll in one of the state’s most prominent newspapers.

North Richmond and Abbotsford are currently a perfect mix for a drug market with networks of existing drug traffickers, high density living for many disadvantaged people, ready access by road, rail and tram, and numerous obscured laneways and other places where injecting can be done ‘out of view’.

While these factors clearly indicate that the drug market is a complex issue, made more so by the fact that many people travel from all over Victoria to purchase and use illicit drugs in Yarra, the response to this issue has been almost solely dominated by an increased police presence. Additionally, closed circuit cameras have been used extensively on the North Richmond public housing estate. Both of these strategies have led to significant displacement of the drug market to suburbs and other places adjacent to North Richmond.

So despite an ever-increasing police presence, the people of North Richmond and Abbotsford still experience the negative health and social impacts of the illicit drug market; thousands of discarded needles and syringes are left lying around; drug affected people on the streets; frequent sounds of ambulance and police sirens; public toilets used as de-facto injecting facilities; visible drug trafficking and their suburb labelled as Melbourne’s ‘drug-zone’.

The YDHF has therefore in recent years taken up the challenge of advocating for more considered and evidence-informed practices to address the social and health harms associated with injecting drugs in the area. The Forum has sought the views and concerns of a broad range of agencies, residents, business groups, non-government organisations and various other interested parties, and the overwhelming view is that the issue of public injecting requires a fresh and innovative approach.

In order to gain an evidence base and collective input for the purpose of developing a more considered response to the social and health risks associated with public injecting, YDHF has worked closely with the Burnet Institute on the development of two important research papers: the first being ‘The potential and viability of establishing a Supervised Injecting Facility (SIF) in Melbourne’ (2008) and the ‘North Richmond Public Injecting Impact Study’ (2013).

Both papers provide an excellent evidence base to facilitate a change of policy that will allow for the introduction of strategies that reduce the impact of public injecting and address many of the social and health impacts of illicit drug use. Both papers, for example, provide substantial support for the introduction of a Supervised Injecting Facility (SIF) and outline the existing social, environmental, and public health conditions in Yarra that would precede its introduction.

Both papers clearly outline the benefits of SIFs in terms of disease prevention, particularly blood borne viruses, overdose death prevention and improvement in public amenity, all of which are relevant to those people who live in, work in or are connected to the City of Yarra.

There is also strong evidence that SIFs provide an important bridge to drug treatment and other health and welfare services for disadvantaged and marginalised groups, as well as having no negative impacts on crime and drug rates of use.
Unfortunately, whilst there is overwhelming local evidence for the introduction of a SIF, now added to the supportive national and international evidence, there have been no policy initiatives in Victoria on this issue in recent years.

The YDHF intends to conduct an ongoing advocacy campaign in support of the establishment of a SIF to address the social and health harms impacting on the community in the City of Yarra. This advocacy strategy will involve strengthening the groundswell of support as well as seeking endorsement from highly regarded groups and individuals residing outside the local area.

 

Greg Denham is Executive Officer, Yarra Drug and Health Forum.


ydhf.org.au

 

Images:

1. The community launch of the North Richmond Public Injecting Impact Study in May. Photo: Stephanie Luketic

2. Needle and syringe disposal unit helps clean up the streets in North Richmond. Photo: Robyn Dwyer

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