I’ve used heroin off and on for decades now. I still do.
Throughout my twenties, I had used drugs in ways that were often destructive to me. Back then, I worked 40 hours a week in a paid job a lot of the time, but at other times I was homeless, seemingly always in withdrawal, and desperate for dollars or drugs.
Looking back, I was incredibly destructive. I ripped off shops, crashed cars and got in trouble with the cops. I had hepatitis C (of which I have been cured), have overdosed multiple times and developed infections from injecting – often in an alleyway or an abandoned house or a public toilet or a train.
While people have issues with alcohol and other acceptable drugs that make their lives difficult, they don’t go to jail just for buying or consuming their drugs. That fact – and the drive to avoid the police, along with the awful reality of opioid withdrawal – has ensured my decision-making is sometimes focused on immediate relief or safety, rather than long-term health choices.
That is why harm reduction and injecting rooms – such as the one in North Richmond – are so crucial for keeping people alive and healthy.
When I heard the government in Victoria was not going ahead with the CBD injecting room, I felt both sad and angry. If you are using drugs and are dependent on them, you need somewhere safe to use. “Treatment”, “care coordination”, “stigma-free care” and the rest of those nice words about getting people off drugs mean nothing when you…
