When Rod was homeless, he needed to find places he could inject heroin without being seen. That's how he ended up overdosing in the bathroom at the Victoria Park train station.
He said he would have died if it had not been for the person who happened to be in the stall next to him who called an ambulance.
After 38 years of using heroin in a country with a criminalised approach to illegal drugs, Rod — which is not his real name — said stigma and incarceration were endangering lives.
Drug decriminalisation is a controversial topic in Victoria, where non-medical marijuana remains criminalised, unlike in South Australia, the ACT and the Northern Territory.
Addiction specialists argue decriminalisation allows drugs to be used more safely and saves lives — and has in countries that have done it like Portugal — while opponents say it would encourage drug use.
Rod started using when he was 17 and living in an abusive household.
He grew up in a working class part of Melbourne's northern suburbs, where he said young people turned to drugs because there was not much else to do.
"I started using because my friends started using," he said.
"My friends meant everything to me, and so I found solace in that sort of camaraderie."
He's now in his 50s, and his addiction has become something to manage.
Rod spoke to the ABC on the condition of anonymity because of the stigma surrounding illegal drug use.
"It's a very isolating and lonely place," he said.
"There's a lot of shame attached to being a drug user."
Withdrawing in the police cell
Rod said places where he scores drugs are heavily policed, which has resulted in him being arrested for possession.
"I've never been to prison, per se, but I've spent a lot of time in the cell," he said.
Being in the cell usually lasts a few hours, he said, which leads to painful withdrawals.
"Withdrawal is one of the most abhorrent feelings that you'll ever experience — you're physically ill, and that happens in the cell," he said.
"They don't see you as someone that has had their own life, their own history."
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Tony Langdon said the police's focus was on arresting and prosecuting drug dealers, while connecting those suffering from addiction to support services.
"As part of Victoria Police's 2020-2025 Drug Strategy, where appropriate police will look to divert and refer people who need help into appropriate services, while also continuing to trial different ways of supporting programs and services which are effective in reducing the harmful effects of drugs and related problems," he said.
"This includes supporting public education and awareness around the impact of drug use, using early referral processes, increasing police discretion for diversion, and encouraging the use of treatment services."
Former police sergeant says system 'traumatises' drug users
Greg Denham is a former Victoria Police senior sergeant turned alcohol and other drug (AOD) worker at cohealth who does outreach with drug users in Melbourne's western suburbs.
"We are a service that they can trust, where they know they're going to not be judged," he said.
He said the police usually have good intentions around dealing with drug users, "but it's so far removed from their lives".
Mr Denham said many people he deals with turn to drugs because of trauma and mental health issues, which is exacerbated by the police response.
"They're picked up for a minor offence of drug use and that reinforces and traumatises them," he said.
He said overdose is common, so he and other AOD workers carry naloxone — a drug that can temporarily reverse an opioid overdose — to administer before the ambulance arrives.
"We also encourage people to go and get the naloxone themselves, so they carry it on them," he said.
"We would like officers to carry naloxone, like they do in Western Australia."
Addiction specialist says alcohol most harmful drug
Dan Lubman, executive clinical director of addiction treatment and research centre Turning Point, said Australia needs to have an "honest conversation" about drug criminalisation.
"Despite putting billions of dollars into this, we've seen an extended drug market and more dangerous drug supply controlled by organised crime."
A major Australian study which Professor Lubman contributed to found alcohol was the most harmful drug in the country, when considering the harms to both the user and others.
"Yet it's something that the community sees not as a harmful drug but as something to be enjoyed and celebrated," he said.
"We have this arbitrary legal definition of what is good drug and what is bad drug."
He supports drug decriminalisation, which he said means removing criminal penalties for people found in possession of drugs.
"We already have sort of de facto decriminalisation through drug diversion programs which operate in every state and territory," Professor Lubman said.
This involves diverting people found in possession of drugs to education programs, rather than handing them a criminal charge.
However, he said the caution and diversion system in its current form is not working, as the decision is at police discretion.
A report by the Victorian parliament found Victoria Police's overall use of cautions, as opposed to charges, has declined over the past decade.
It found young Aboriginal people and young people in low socio-economic groups were less likely to receive a caution.
Assistant Commissioner Langdon said Victoria Police instituted a policy in July last year giving its officers greater powers to issue cautions for drug possession.
"These changes will play a key role in diverting children and adults away from the criminal justice system, thus reducing their likelihood of future criminal involvement," he said.
"Police will still take appropriate criminal action when required."
Push for decriminalisation in parliament
In February, Reason MP Fiona Patten tried to push a bill through Victoria's parliament to end drug criminalisation.
Though it was not supported by either major party, she did manage to get the government to agree to consider a localised trial that she described as "effectively decriminalisation".
A government spokesperson said there were no plans to decriminalise drugs in Victoria.
The details of the trial have gone to a working group to be decided, but Ms Patten hopes it will involve Victoria Police automatically diverting people found with small amounts of drugs to education and treatment.
State opposition leader Matthew Guy said Victoria has "bigger problems" than drug criminalisation.
"The concept around decriminalisation or even the possession of illicit drugs, I believe, sends the wrong message at the wrong time," he said.
"As a parent, I couldn't think of anything worse than sending a message from state parliament that decriminalisation of drugs such as ice is on the agenda."
Speaking in February about Fiona Patten's bill, Police Association of Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt said the government should carefully consider the messaging and impacts of any proposal to decriminalise drugs.
"Messaging is really important when it comes to drug use, because drug use causes harm in our community," he said.
"Any sort of decision making in this space would have to have regard to things like road trauma, would have to have regard to community safety and violence on our streets, things like family violence in our homes, and places where we don't necessarily see the impact of drug use."
He also said Victoria needed to invest in more drug treatment facilities.
In 2018, the state government opened a trial safe injecting room in Richmond after a spate of heroin-related deaths. A review found it recorded 119,223 visits in its first eighteen months of operation and saved 21 lives.
A second centre is in the works for the CBD, but Ms Patten said the process has been bogged down by "politics".
"There's a lot of people who would rather these people were not treated as human beings," she said.
Addiction specialists say the facilities save lives, while the state opposition and some nearby residents have raised concerns about incidents they believe are linked to the Richmond injecting room.
Doctors hesitant to prescribe 'revolutionary' opioid dependence drug
Paul MacCartney, a GP at cohealth in Fitzroy, is one of the only doctors in Victoria licensed to prescribe injectable buprenorphine, a drug that can reduce a patient's dependence on opioids for up to a month with each injection.
"For some people, it's been fantastic. It's really been quite freeing and revolutionary for them in really changing the way substance use is impacting them," he said.
Despite this, he said patients face barriers in accessing opioid replacement therapy.
"There's a real shortage of doctors in Victoria who are willing to prescribe the appropriate treatments for people who have become dependent on opioids," he said.
Dr MacCartney said the disadvantage of GPs shying away from treating addiction is that patients have to go to clinics known for specialising in substance use, which can be prohibitive. The alternative is sticking with illicit drugs.
He said his facility does not charge for buprenorphine, but many pharmacists do.
Rod said drug criminalisation contributed to his struggle to get secure housing and work over the years.
"When you're an addict, it dominates your whole life," he said.
It took him eight years to complete, but he now has an arts degree, works four days a week and lives in public housing.
"I spent 20 years trying to make my way," he said.
"It was a really long struggle."
