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  • Push to expand Victorian injecting room eligibility

    Author: AAP

Pregnant women and people under 18 would be able to use Victoria's supervised injecting room under a Greens proposal to expand access in keeping with expert advice.

A bill to make the North Richmond facility permanent is set to be debated and voted on by the upper house when parliament returns this week, after a review found the site has managed almost 6000 overdoses and saved 63 lives since opening in 2018.

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But amendments from the Greens would make it easier to licence more than one medically supervised injecting room at the same time, and expand eligibility to those who are pregnant, under 18 or on court orders.

Peer and partner injection would also be sanctioned but not for children under 18.

The independent review, authored by public health researcher John Ryan, called for the expansion of access to include peer and partner injecting and the removal of eligibility barriers but the Andrews government immediately ruled it out.

If Victoria was serious about keeping communities safer the state must follow expert health advice, Greens' drug harm reduction spokeswoman Aiv Puglielli said.

"People are using injectable drugs," he said in a statement on Monday.

"Leaving people out in the open, without medical supervision, to use these substances will lead to more deaths and will put people and communities in harm's way."

It comes as the coalition prepares to move its own amendments to have the North Richmond facility shift away from a nearby primary school.

Permanent drug injecting rooms would need to be at least 250 metres away from education or care services under the proposed changes, forcing the relocation.

Transparency would also be boosted by a requirement for service providers to complete annual reports.

A Victorian government spokeswoman said the North Richmond facility is saving lives and keeping drug users safe and off the streets.

"We know there is work to be done to further boost safety and amenity in the North Richmond precinct and that is what we're doing," she said in a statement.

A second supervised injecting room has been earmarked for central Melbourne after the government purchased a building near Degraves Street.

Former Victoria Police commissioner Ken Lay is expected to hand his long-awaited final report on a possible location for the second facility to the government by the end of May.

Community consultation on the potential CBD trial opened last week.

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