Greens member for Western Victorian Dr Sarah Mansfield has renewed calls for a safe injecting room in Geelong following the release of two reports highlighting the prevalence of drug overdose deaths in the region.
Dr Mansfield put the question to Mental Health minister Ingrid Stitt in the Legislative Council last week, asking if the Labor government would reconsider opening a medically supervised injecting room (MSIR) in Geelong.
During the question Dr Mansfield referred to two recent reports, the Pennington Institute’s Australia’s Annual Overdose Report and a Victorian Coroners Court report, which she said “revealed shocking figures about fatal overdose in Geelong”.
“For the past decade Geelong has recorded the highest number of unintentional overdose deaths of any Victorian regional area and has amongst the highest rates in the state,” Dr Mansfield said.
“Meanwhile the frequency with which potent synthetic opioids like nitazenes have been present during such fatalities has been growing, almost doubling annually since January 2021, significantly increasing the likelihood of unintentional and fatal overdose.”
She said many overdose deaths that have occurred in Geelong were “entirely preventable”.
“Medically supervised injecting rooms save lives. They not only prevent overdoses by providing immediate treatment, they also link people with addiction support and other social services,” Dr Mansfield said.
“With the arrival of potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl and nitazines in Geelong, there is the real risk of a huge escalation in overdose deaths. The need for proven harm reduction measures like MSIRs has never been more urgent.”
In 2018, Melbourne’s first MSRI opened for an 18-month trial period, which became permanent in 2023.
In 2020, then-premier Daniel Andrews announced a safe injecting room would be opened in Melbourne’s CBD.
However, despite a 2023 report from former Victorian Police commissioner Ken Lay recommending a second MSIR, in April this year Premier Jacinta Allan ruled out the possibility of more injecting rooms in Victoria.
Minister Stitt reiterated that position in response to Dr Mansfield’s questions last week, pointing to Geelong’s recently opened alcohol and other drugs hub and the recruitment of Victoria’s first chief addiction
medicine officer.
“We also have a number of initiatives in the statewide action plan to reduce drug harm, which are relevant for regional communities, including Geelong,” she said.
“But we have made our position clear… that we have no plans to increase the number of safe injecting services in the state.”
