Legal Heroin Injecting Room Australia Has Legal Heroin Injecting Room Copyright 2001 by United Press International. Officials at Uniting Church said their facility, in the Kings Cross section of Sydney, was equipped to handle up to 200 drug users a day. Eight heroin users used the facility Sunday, the first day it was open. While the drug users must supply their own heroin, the church supplies all the other equipment needed to inject the drug.
Medical personnel are on hand to supervise the process.
Every year about 100 people die from heroin overdoses in the Kings Cross area near the church's facility. Even Sunday night there were two overdoses treated in the area, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported. Local and federal officials fought giving Uniting Church permission to operate the drug facility, but church representatives waged a court battle that ended with them winning an 18-month trial license. It was open from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. Sunday. The BBC quoted a center official as saying there are about 45 legal heroin injecting rooms around the world.