HIT BY THE SOFT WALLS, COMFY CHAIRS, HOT SHOWERS

The walls have no hard edges so you won't bump into them and get hurt. The
chairs are designed so you can't fall out of them. Inside the supervised
injecting room, the clean syringe is ready for you in a stainless steel
bowl. Outside, in the waiting room, you can have a coffee and eat something
healthy.

Within a year several of these facilities will open around Melbourne. All
that is needed is the support of five local councils.

The rooms will be unobtrusive places, according the Victorian Government
and the Drug Policy Expert Committee chaired by David Penington. They will
be a quiet spot for heroin users to inject but they will also be health
centres.

The report, delivered yesterday by Dr Penington's committee, says an
injecting room should not be separated from the street drug trade by a main
road. A user should not have far to go to inject heroin once they have paid
for it.

But the room should not be on a major shopping strip or in a predominantly
residential area. It cannot be near schools, kindergartens, or other
"sensitive public facilities" either. Local authorities will determine the
opening hours, but Dr Penington said overseas experience suggested they
should be open between about 10am and 10pm.

The report said the injecting centres must have a reception area, a waiting
area, a recovery area. There will be a separate room for injecting and a
room where users can consult a doctor.

They will be for adults only. Health Minister John Thwaites said he wanted
to tread carefully during the 18-month trial. People under 18 who go to a
room will be referred to a youth outreach program, such as the statewide
Youth Substance Abuse Service.

The rooms will be managed by the Department of Human Services. Dr Penington
envisages they will be staffed by people with expertise in dealing with
drug-affected youth, whether they be social workers, ambulance officers, or
nurses, appointed by the operators in consultation with the department.

The managing director of Wesley Mission Melbourne, Judy Leitch, said the
$400,000 facility on the church grounds in Lonsdale Street doubles as a
public health service. The centre remains closed due to fierce opposition
from resident groups and concern from Melbourne City Council.

Upstairs is an area which, if Wesley is chosen to run a room in the city,
will be used to link drug users with infectious disease control, Aboriginal
health, and legal aid services. "These are people that do not come into
contact with mainstream health services," Ms Leitch said.

As in Europe, injecting facilities will have washing machines, so users can
put a load of clothes through while they wait, and showers, checked
periodically to determine whether a person is slumping into overdose.

Should someone overdose, staff will revive them using conventional
resuscitation methods - Dr Penington said European rooms rarely stocked
oxygen let alone Narcan - but an ambulance would be called if necessary.

Ms Leitch said Dr Penington's recommendations about the position and
operation of injecting rooms were consistent with the research Wesley had
conducted over the past 12 months. Wesley was prepared to work with the
government and the council regardless of whether the mission was chosen to
operate the CBD facility.

About 70per cent of the city community supported such a facility and the
Wesley congregation was generally supportive. Overseas evidence suggested
others would become convinced after they saw that it was saving lives and
reducing the public nuisance on the streets, Ms Leitch said.