Herald Sun | SERVICES BACK SAFE INJECTING ROOMS

An outreach worker from a needle exchange program who was charged last week with trafficking heroin won an award last year for resuscitating multiple people who had overdosed.Matthew Honey, 49, of Richmond was presented with Yarra Drug and Health Reform’s Worker of the Year Award in 2018.“Matthew has saved people’s lives,” said Yarra Drug and Health Forum chairman Peter Wearne.

When residents were asked about drugs at Richmond’s public housing estate in 2011, many were scared about talking and being identified. “Our building is not a safe space. Buying and selling drugs go on, people having injections. A few households are involved in drug dealing,” one resident told a project initiated by the Richmond Estate Action Group.Tenants spoke of syringes all over the playground, stairwells and communal laundries. “Some children have witnessed violent incidents,” one resident said. “Big trouble with us with this building,” another said. “People poo and wee there.”