Resource Logo  AUSTRALIA: AMA Pushes for Safe Injecting Trial
The Age (Melbourne) (10.01.12)  The Australian Medical
Association (AMA) has called for the trial of a supervised
injecting facility in Victoria that would help prevent overdoses
and control the spread of blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis
C. With a successful facility operating in Sydney for more than
10 years, AMA Victorian president Stephen Parnis said it was
time the Victorian government considered a trial. The Baillieu
government has repeatedly ruled out such a trial since coming to
power two years ago and did so again last night. However, the
opposition and the Greens [a political party] urged the
government to consider the proposal. Dr. Parnis suggested that
the facilities could work in “Melbourne’s drug hotspots.”
Heroin-related ambulance attendances were particularly high in
the City of Yarra, where councillors voted last year to
introduce a trial, but were thwarted by the government when it
refused to change legislation that would h