Australian reader Snoggeramus brings us another example of bureaucrats living in a dream world – that backfires on them.
Two social workers at Melbourne’s controversial safe injecting room are facing drug trafficking charges.
A 49-year-old man and 36-year-old woman were arrested on Thursday, along with six others, following raids at North Richmond Community Health and several homes.
The centre has been the site of Victoria’s first safe injecting room since 2018, as part of a two-year trial.
The pair, who work as counsellors, are accused of supplying drugs to addicts who use the service and have been stood down following their arrest.
Those living in the area say the neighbourhood has become a notorious crime hot spot since the safe injecting room opened.
There’s more at the link. Here’s a TV news report.
I worked with the homeless in Cape Town, South Africa as a volunteer at a Church-run shelter for a while. I had more exposure to it in the USA during visits to such shelters, and ran into the consequences of some such places during my service as a prison chaplain. In all of them, there was a common denominator. If you set up a place where substances can be legally abused, with the police turning a blind eye to them, criminals will take advantage of the opportunity. It’s just about a gold-plated guarantee.
As for the “community service workers” who were arrested, who ran the background checks on them? I’m willing to bet that some bleeding-heart social justice doofus decided that former drug abusers would be perfect for the job, because they’d “understand” the challenges facing those still abusing them. Talk about an open door for further abuse!
Verily, the mind doth boggle . . .
Peter
Yep, keys to printing money for the addicts… And no one with a brain is surprised… sigh
Drug-Safe places are like socialism. Nobody's done it right, this time we'll succeed!!!
Former users can actually become excellent counselors, due to the shared experience. I have observed this in person, in a 12-step program.
That's not what we're dealing with here. This is assisting active users, not counseling people who are quitting.
lpdbw beat me to it. I was going to say, and will say it anyway. Safehaven shoot-up centers are very much the same as holding an AA meeting at the Jack Daniel's tasting room.
I’m curious how this is working out in various European countries.
In the us, such as sf, it’s been a disaster.