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https://theconversation.com/a-neighbourhood-war-zone-and-a-garden-gate-overdose-sparked-judy-ryans-fight-for-victorias-first-safe-injecting-room-199199>
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Review: You Talk, We Die the battle for Victoria’s first safe injecting
facility – Judy Ryan (Scribe Publications)
Most of us don’t have people overdosing on drugs in our front garden. Judy Ryan
did. In July 2016, Ryan found a young man slumped at her gate: one of her
“regulars”, who often injected drugs in or around her Richmond property.
You Talk, We Die describes her involvement, as an community activist, in the
battle for Melbourne’s first safe injecting facility (and Australia’s second).
North Richmond Community Health’s medically supervised injecting room opened in
June 2018: initially for a two-year trial, since extended for a further three
years, until June 2023.
Melbourne is set to have a second medically supervised injecting facility, most
likely in the CBD.
Ryan describes the situation in her community prior to the safe injecting
facility as something akin to a war zone:
I regularly walked south along Lennox Street to Richmond station. It was
common to see people injecting, “on the nod”, or overdosed in the playground
of Richmond West Primary School or next door in the carpark of North
Richmond Community Health. As these incidents had been common place in this
area for decades, both establishments had well-honed drills.
Ryan’s book describes, in meticulous detail, what it took for the Victorian
government to trial Richmond’s safe injecting facility, through the lens of a
local resident. It shows change is not always linear; it can be messy, and
involves multiple systems.
And it shows Judy Ryan was the right person, at the right time, to help
leverage change."
I worked for a non-profit in Richmond between 2015 and 2020, so I was quite
aware of these issues.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
