When she thinks about her son Danial, Katrina Korver remembers the little boy in early photos — with wide eyes, a beaming smile and the world at his feet.
She doesn't see him as a statistic — not the man who died with a syringe in his arm, sprawled in Rainbow Alley not far from Melbourne Town Hall.
The father-of-one was found unresponsive after an overdose on heroin and prescribed drugs in June.
Katrina Korver told ABC Radio Melbourne if a safe injecting room were operating in the city, her son would still be alive.
The spiralling toll of overdose deaths across the city has fuelled calls for a second facility to open in Melbourne's CBD.
The establishment of Victoria's first safe injecting centre at north Richmond in 2018 has been widely criticised by locals who warn it creates more problems than it solves.
Among other issues, parents and staff at a nearby primary school have been forced to contend with users injecting in full view of children.
Critics fear the behaviour will only be replicated if a second site opens in the city.
But Ms Korver said the support and counselling available — in areas already plagued by drug accessibility — offered users a genuine pathway to recovery.
"Safe injecting rooms should be available where the source is – heroin is very accessible in Melbourne's CBD," Ms Korver said.
"I understand the concerns of the traders in Melbourne CBD; however, the problem still exists and will exist if drugs are still easily accessible."
She said many of Melbourne's CBD laneways and alley ways were littered with injecting paraphernalia.
"When a drug user or heroin addict gets the drug in hand their whole body is screaming out for it," she said.
"They can't wait. So, they go to alleyways and inject alone ... and they die.
"Too many young people are dying that should not have to."
A feasibility report on the second facility is still being finalised by former Victorian police commissioner Ken Lay.
A decision is not expected until after the Victorian state election in November.
In an opinion piece for News Corp last week, Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt called for the "abandonment" of the plan to create a second medically supervised injecting room in the city.
"We don't do this lightly, or without reason. In fact, we say that reason has been neglected in the government's plan for the development of this facility," Mr Gatt wrote.
Ms Korver said she understood the concerns but urged action as overdose deaths continued to climb.
Long painful journey
She said her son had displayed a fascination for the drug culture from an early age and despite ongoing pleas from his parents, started dabbling in drugs in high school and first tried heroin in grade 10.
It sparked a long painful journey of drug abuse which took a toll on the entire family.
"When Danial used the facilities at Richmond he was looked after, counselled, and offered treatment without judgement," Ms Korver said.
"I firmly believe that enforced rehabilitation is a great thing in the early stages of addiction, this would give a young person and their families support, tools, and strategies to deal with the unfolding trajectory that their lives are taking."
She also called on doctors and pharmacists who treat addicts to be more accountable.
"In the 22 years that Danial was treated by specialist doctors, he was only once offered support, counselling along with blood tests and urine testing to monitor how he was really going.
"Inexperienced doctors tend to offer a plethora of drugs in large quantities rather than go into combat with their drug-dependent patients.
"Danial would either take these drugs in large doses himself or sell them for heroin."
Sharp decline in health
Ms Korver said in the last six months of his life, there had been a marked decline in Danial's physical and mental health but claims she was ignored when she raised concerns directly with her son's specialists.
She said Danial died three weeks later.
She now hopes Danial's death might serve as a catalyst to ensure anybody suffering through addiction could seek the tangible help they needed.
"I want to stop over-prescribing by doctors given the responsibility of treating our drug dependent people and see more safe injecting rooms that can provide support, counselling, and medication," Ms Korver said.
"We miss our son and wish we could have done more.
"As a child, Danial was curious and inquisitive.
"He loved school. He loved learning, he loved sport.
"He could be protective, kind, helpful, funny and great company on a good day.
"He was a gentle and caring person — extremely proud of his son, nieces, nephews and his family.
"That is how we remember him."
August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day. Find out more here.
