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@sortius@infosec.exchange · activity timestamp 3 hours ago

@emmadavidson yeh, I really need to get some myself. Keep a few at the front door, and one in my bag. I've not seen an OD around here, but I know of a few OD deaths, and every time it's a lack of naloxone that caused it.

I think the 500m thing rapidly drops in times of high prices. Heroin users are more strung out, more desperate to get it in their arm, so they either shoot up with their dealers, or very very close by.

I spend a bit of time talking to local users, they're mostly ok people with a traumatic history. We can't forget that

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Emma Davidson

@emmadavidson@aus.social replied · activity timestamp 4 hours ago

"There are a range of factors that would need further consideration, including the most appropriate model for the ACT, location, demand for the service, legislative requirements, potential integration with or pathways to other harm reduction services, and whether more cost-effective results could be achieved through other harm reduction programs." - quote from govt spokes.

This is what I asked for in the second report that we commissioned in 2024. Not another "should we do this?" but a "how should we do this specifically for Canberra?"
I talked about what it might be, and so did Chris Gough from CAHMA, in this 2024 news story:
https://region.com.au/safe-injecting-room-in-canberra-back-on-agenda-25-years-after-first-proposed/786755/

In Melbourne, where I've seen how they run a SIF, they do great work on general health checks, kidney health, dental, mental health, and other things for people who show up to their service. Keeping people alive and out of hospital is what it's all about. And if/when people are ready, there's someone they can talk to about addiction recovery,

Region Canberra

Safe injecting rooms back on the agenda, 25 years after they were first proposed

ACT Greens MLA and Minister for Population Health Emma Davidson says a supervised injecting room could be opened in Canberra…

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sortius :Fire_Bisexual:

@sortius@infosec.exchange replied · activity timestamp 4 hours ago

@emmadavidson the local one is quite effective. Nobody really knows it's there, and it's supported by local health and homelessness services. It generally keeps the needles off the streets, but that's up lately because of the heroin prices.

That said, a lot of local heroin users shoot up in squats or dealers' flats. That's not going to change in a hurry, but bit by bit it will change behaviours. In the meantime we have naloxone in bars/pubs, and signs around how to deal with ODs

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Emma Davidson

@emmadavidson@aus.social replied · activity timestamp 3 hours ago

@sortius yes, I was really impressed with the one in saw in your city. Not that it was a hard sell on me, I've been supportive of things like this for 30 years. Research says most people use within 500m of where they bought their drugs, which means there's no perfect location in a city like Canberra with greatly dispersed use in the community. But co-locating with other health and social services that are peer-led seems helpful.

I was also a keen supporter of the take home naloxone program when it started during my term in govt. When my kids (not users) go to music festivals etc, they carry it in their bag in case they see someone who needs it. I've given it to older folks who use opioid painkillers to keep in their first aid kit, in case of accidental overdose (easy to do with meds when people's memory is impaired).

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sortius :Fire_Bisexual:

@sortius@infosec.exchange replied · activity timestamp 3 hours ago

I spend a bit of time talking to local users, they're mostly ok people with a traumatic history. We can't forget that

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Emma Davidson

@emmadavidson@aus.social replied · activity timestamp 3 hours ago

@sortius agreed, my early career included welfare services for heroin users in Canberra in the 1990's. Better trauma support from childhood through to adults would greatly reduce deaths and long term health conditions, and break intergenerational cycles. All the research tells us it works, and it's more cost effective than not doing it.

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sortius :Fire_Bisexual:

@sortius@infosec.exchange replied · activity timestamp 3 hours ago

@emmadavidson but apparently "unpalatable" to the vast majority of the electorate.

I get the desire to "punish" people for doing "bad things", but being addicted to heroin doesn't make someone inherently bad, there's just a link to crime with it, purely by the nature of how the drug is classified.

I wish we could break people out of this 1980's Nancy Regan shit

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