2024-04-09
The Victorian Greens have said people using injectable drugs will continue to die while Labor refuses to act on a report into a second safe injecting room in the CBD.
While Labor has been sitting on Ken Lay’s report into a second room for almost a year, 9 News has overnight revealed some of the details from the report.
This reportedly includes a recommendation to set up a second room in the CBD.
Victorian Greens drug harm reduction spokesperson, Aiv Puglielli, said it was outrageous the Labor state government was refusing to release the report or act on it as a matter of urgency.
He added that the new Premier should be listening to expert advice, and if that advice was to open up more safe injecting rooms, the Labor government needed to listen.
Quotes attributable to Victorian Greens drug harm reduction spokesperson, Aiv Puglielli MLC:
“If the new Premier actually wants to keep Victorians safer, she needs to stop putting politics ahead of people’s lives and act on the expert advice.
"That's why it's important for the Labor state government to release and respond to this report as a matter of urgency.
“People are using injectable drugs. Leaving people out in the open, without medical supervision, to use these substances will lead to more deaths and will put people and communities in harm’s way.”