Call for permanent licence for Kings Cross injecting centre
NEWSHEALTH
17 FEB 10 @ 09:02AM BY MENIOS CONSTANINOU
MSIC Kings Cross
SUPPORT is mounting for a call to give the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Kings Cross a permanent licence after more than 10 years of trial operation.
The injecting room received a vote of support from the Deputy State Coroner Malcolm MacPherson last week during a hearing on the death of drug addict Chance Mullins, 23, who died of “multiple drug toxicity” on September 18,2007.
In handing down his findings at the Glebe Coroner’s Court, Mr MacPherson said the evidence heard was “a powerful argument in favour of the (injecting centre) being given permanency”.
Mr Mullins had been refused access to the centre because he was intoxicated, in line with the guidelines then in place, but the coroner said he was spoken to in the counselling room and warned of the risks of overdosing.
The Lord Mayor and MP for Sydney, Clover Moore, said the coroner’s findings signalled it was time to lift the injecting centre’s trial status.
Ms Moore said she had asked the Premier to “provide the centre with certainty so that this vital health service can do its job properly”.
She said that Kings Cross crime statistics had “put paid to the scurrilous claims that the centre is a ‘honey pot’ for drug use and crime”.
“Independent surveys have shown widespread and growing local business and community support for the centre,” Ms Moore said. “The centre sends a message of tolerance and compassion, showing that the community wants to help keep young people alive long enough for them to be able to come off drugs”.
The acting medical director of the injecting room, Hester Wilson, said that evidence from medical experts proved that it saves lives and gets people into drug treatment and off drugs.
“The fact that the number of ambulances called to drug overdoses in Kings Cross has reduced by a staggering 80 per cent since the centre opened shows how effective it is,” Dr Wilson said. Before the injecting centre opened in 2001, there was one fatal overdose very week in Kings Cross on average, this has decreased to one overdose a month.
The centre’s trial phase began in 2001 and has been extended several times, but its next phase runs out in October 2011. Its opponents include the lobby group Drug Free Australia and the NSW Opposition leader Barry O’Farrell, who last year told Central he was concerned it had “failed to meet its goal of providing a pathway to rehabilitation for people who want to end their addiction”. Malcolm Duncan, head of the 2011 Residents Association, was also an high-profile opponent of the centre while he was vice-president of the now defunct Kings Cross chamber of commerce.
The license should definitely be extended as it's a great harm minimization program. Heard on the radio Keneally is looking into it and is undecided atm. Barry o Farrell unfortunetly is against it which is just a populist grab for votes
NEWSHEALTH
17 FEB 10 @ 09:02AM BY MENIOS CONSTANINOU
MSIC Kings Cross
SUPPORT is mounting for a call to give the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Kings Cross a permanent licence after more than 10 years of trial operation.
The injecting room received a vote of support from the Deputy State Coroner Malcolm MacPherson last week during a hearing on the death of drug addict Chance Mullins, 23, who died of “multiple drug toxicity” on September 18,2007.
In handing down his findings at the Glebe Coroner’s Court, Mr MacPherson said the evidence heard was “a powerful argument in favour of the (injecting centre) being given permanency”.
Mr Mullins had been refused access to the centre because he was intoxicated, in line with the guidelines then in place, but the coroner said he was spoken to in the counselling room and warned of the risks of overdosing.
The Lord Mayor and MP for Sydney, Clover Moore, said the coroner’s findings signalled it was time to lift the injecting centre’s trial status.
Ms Moore said she had asked the Premier to “provide the centre with certainty so that this vital health service can do its job properly”.
She said that Kings Cross crime statistics had “put paid to the scurrilous claims that the centre is a ‘honey pot’ for drug use and crime”.
“Independent surveys have shown widespread and growing local business and community support for the centre,” Ms Moore said. “The centre sends a message of tolerance and compassion, showing that the community wants to help keep young people alive long enough for them to be able to come off drugs”.
The acting medical director of the injecting room, Hester Wilson, said that evidence from medical experts proved that it saves lives and gets people into drug treatment and off drugs.
“The fact that the number of ambulances called to drug overdoses in Kings Cross has reduced by a staggering 80 per cent since the centre opened shows how effective it is,” Dr Wilson said. Before the injecting centre opened in 2001, there was one fatal overdose very week in Kings Cross on average, this has decreased to one overdose a month.
The centre’s trial phase began in 2001 and has been extended several times, but its next phase runs out in October 2011. Its opponents include the lobby group Drug Free Australia and the NSW Opposition leader Barry O’Farrell, who last year told Central he was concerned it had “failed to meet its goal of providing a pathway to rehabilitation for people who want to end their addiction”. Malcolm Duncan, head of the 2011 Residents Association, was also an high-profile opponent of the centre while he was vice-president of the now defunct Kings Cross chamber of commerce.
The license should definitely be extended as it's a great harm minimization program. Heard on the radio Keneally is looking into it and is undecided atm. Barry o Farrell unfortunetly is against it which is just a populist grab for votes
