Inside decision to reject second safe injecting room

* Former premier Daniel Andrews committed the government to a CBD supervised injecting centre in 2020

* In July 2020 former Victoria Police commissioner Ken Lay was appointed to investigate such a service

* He was told to go back and do more consultation in September 2022

* The final report was handed to the government on May 31, 2023

WHAT DID IT FIND AND RECOMMEND?

* Mr Lay's report recommended an injecting facility with four to six booths in the CBD, citing the death of one drug injector a month in the city

* Fifty-two per cent of respondents surveyed for the report said there was no need for a supervised injecting service in the city

* A separate 40 per cent said there was a need for such a facility in the CBD

* In 2022, 549 Victorians died from drug overdoses and more than one in 10 fatal heroin overdoses occurred in the City of Melbourne

* Data on heroin-related harms in the city found overdoses had returned to pre-COVID levels

* Heroin-related call outs in the CBD went from 130 in July 2019 to June 2020; and 158 in July 2021 to June 2022 and the area had the highest number of heroin-related deaths

* In a bid to monitor CBD drug-use patterns, the council weighs needles and syringes, the number of which decreased by 24 per cent during COVID restrictions, but increased in 2022

* Analysis of the state's wastewater found heroin supply and consumption fell during COVID, but is now two per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels

* Mr Lay's report recommended a four to six booth, discreet injecting service, with accessible wraparound supports

* He also advised a health-led inter-agency committee be established along with a government-backed Community Advisory Group and increased community outreach

WHAT HAS THE GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED?

* Premier Jacinta Allan and Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt ruled out second injecting centre on Tuesday

* However, the government will implement all eight other recommendations from the report

* $95 million will be spent on health strategies to help aid vulnerable Victorians, mostly in the CBD

* $36.4m will be used to start a new community health service on Flinders Street

* $21.3m to bolster community outreach teams

* $9.4m will be spent on extra support services in the city

*$8.4m on addiction treatments at 30 Victorian health facilities

* $7.2m will be used to trial hydromorphone medication, a treatment to wean people off heroin, at the new Flinders Street hub

* Naloxone, a strong anti-overdose drug, will be trialled at 20 vending machines at needle exchange programs

* A chief addiction adviser within the state's health system will also be appointed by the government

WHY DID THE GOVERNMENT REJECT A SECOND INJECTING ROOM?

* Ms Allan said the government could not find a suitable site for the second supervised injecting room, which was a "sticking point"

* The government bought the former Yooralla building at 244 Flinders Street as a site for the centre in 2021, which will now be used for the community health service

* The Salvation Army on Bourke Street became the preferred site in 2023 and this will now host the wraparound health service

Australian Associated Press