The territory government has been toying with a safe injecting facility for some years and a report, released three years ago, recommended a site be set up in Canberra's city centre.
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For a jurisdiction which has forged ahead of the rest of the country on illicit drug decriminalisation, the lengthy delay in expediting a resolution to this important health safeguard measure beggars belief.
The feasibility study by researchers at the Burnet Institute, published in December 2021, found there was support for an injection room from stakeholders in the ACT, as well as support among the wider community.
But while safe injection rooms had support in the ACT community, the report said further work was needed to build "understanding" of the rooms.
These types of facilities have been around since the 1980s and have a proven record of reducing harm.
Now Population Health Minister Emma Davidson has announced that yet another review will take place, this time to map out how an ACT safe injecting facility should be delivered, with a response by December.
Here is yet another issue, carrying just enough of a whiff of controversy that nothing will be done until after the ACT election.
Meanwhile, a cohort of vulnerable intravenous illicit drug users in the territory is at risk from a government dragging its feet.
The ACT government has a pretty poor history of responding to genuine need in a timely manner, especially in the health space. And here is yet another issue, carrying just enough of a whiff of controversy that nothing will be done until after the ACT election.
The ACT loves to consider itself progressive on these health issues. It has declared illicit drug use a public health issue rather than a policing one and is tipping huge amounts of money into support networks. How well that process is working will be determined in a wider review.
Some in Canberra's illicit drug-taking community clearly have been left behind. Wastewater tests reveal ACT heroin use is declining so the cohort who needs this facility is small.
If there's such government trepidation about this initiative, stop faffing around and conduct a six-month trial of a safe injecting room. The answers sought would emerge in no time at all.
