Over the past week, scores of Age readers have had their say on what life is like on the streets of Richmond now and what should be done about the injecting room. Here's what they had to say: 'I no longer feel safe and I'm angry' Listen to the residents, these stories are real. They should not be made to suffer as a result of a well-intentioned state government program. Be brave enough to admit this initiative is not working. David I am a Richmond mother. In the past week I’ve had to flee the park with my three-year-old because three drug dealers were "working", I’ve been abused on Bridge Road by an ice addict who followed me until I ran into a restaurant with my kids. I was a huge supporter of the injecting room. Not anymore in this location. I no longer feel safe and I’m angry. Georgie

Loading Richmond has always had a hard edge but it has never been a place I found scary. That has changed. Josie I live on Lennox Street right next to the injecting room and have a child at the school. [Having the centre] next to a school is deplorable. Every day children see people injecting, defecating, swearing, fighting, hitting cars, damaging property. Users inject and then get in cars and drive past the school. Two cars have been driven on to the kerb with users slumped over the wheel unconscious. Does it need one of these cars to hit a child for someone to listen and take appropriate action? Simon Drug use is just the same as it was before the injecting room. People are shooting up in my street at 7 am. The entire community is suffering due to the drug issue. Kim Due to the number of dealers now there, the competition within them has lowered the cost of drugs and people come from everywhere to take advantage of this. Soapy

The injecting centre has concentrated a large part of Melbourne's drug problem into one area. The place is becoming a no-go zone. It feels like the Victorian government has decided that Richmond must bear the entirety of Melbourne’s drug problem. It's great that the injecting centre is saving lives but it is destroying a community. James The fundamental negligence in approving this facility to be positioned next to a primary school is unbelievable and the decision-makers need to be held to account. Sam Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Many residents it would seem, have had enough. So what can be done? Most readers suggestions fall into three categories – move it somewhere else, keep it open for longer or bring the trial to a halt right now Shut it down

The government needs to admit its mistake and do something about it. Rachel The injecting room should be closed immediately. The lives and welfare of those who live locally or are affected by its existence should be prioritised over those who decide to self harm. Get rid of it immediately. James A drug user outside reader Allan's garage. Get rid of it. Problems are 10 times worse since it opened with junkies shooting up outside my garage and more. Allan Why help people do something that is illegal? Do we next get roads for drink drivers to drive on? Tony

Close it down. The government is aiding and abetting an activity involving illegal drugs. Crush the dealers. You managed to kill car manufacturers, do the same to drug manufacturers. Anonymous This trial needs to end. Anonymous Why is it legal to inject an illegal substance? Stop catering for those addicts who continually make poor life decisions. Adam The injecting room is not “safe” for those who are not users and it and should be shut down. Mel I would pick up all the needles and all the shit and dump it on the door of the person that allowed this to happen. I bet if they lived near this disgusting shithole, they wouldn't have approved it. Anonymous

Loading So far the injecting room has been a dismal failure and needs to be shut down. The Richmond injecting room has only exacerbated the issue of drug use in the area. If we must have an injecting room it cannot and must not be in a residential area. Anastasia Yarra City Council wouldn't approve a legal brothel in the middle of a housing estate next to a primary school, but a "safe" injecting room for opiate addicts is OK? The residents should just take this matter up with VCAT. Xu Keep it but move it Bad legislation should always be open to change, and in this case it should be changed to move the room to a more appropriate location. Anonymous

My family lives in constant fear since it opened. They see daily drug dealing, drug using and drug-affected people having drug fits in plain sight outside in public areas. It's in the wrong place, it needs to be moved. Andrea If the safe injecting room needs to exist its current location is unacceptable. I live nearby and I feel unsafe on the streets during the day and I simply won’t walk out after dark. Kim I support it but it's in the wrong place. It should be in an industrial area away from residents and schools. Anonymous Move it to an industrial area not a residential one and next door to a primary school. You’re putting the physical safety and mental health of drug addicts over the general public. Anonymous If Melbourne is only going to have one injecting room I think serious consideration should be given to locating it at a central transit hub – perhaps relocating it to Southern Cross Station would be an idea. Gordon

Loading Why isn't the injecting room in Toorak ? Anonymous All day, every day In an editorial this week, The Sunday Age said that the centre, which has recently extended its opening hours "should operate 24/7, bringing those in need off the streets of the neighbourhood and inside the clinic getting help". Some readers agree. As a resident I support the concept but believe it should be 24 hours a day. Christopher

It needs to be open 24/7 so people don’t shoot up in stairwells at night. Cath It needs to be all day every day, so users are not forced to find somewhere to shoot up after hours, and most of all the law needs to change so a doctor can “prescribe” the heroin so that the drug dealers go broke. Murtagh Syringes and other drug paraphernalia left by drug users at the Richmond public housing estate near the safe injecting room. Not many readers seemed to want to keep the injecting room operating as it currently does. But there were a few who thought of ways to make it work better. Don't move them to where people don't go

Legalising recreational drug use so the injecting room could be licensed by government to sell them would immediately solve all the problems. The black market and the dealers would evaporate. Users would have to attend the injecting room to buy the drugs and would have to inject there to be supplied, getting them off the streets. Craig A needle on a Richmond street. Injecting rooms are a winner! They need to add external staff, much like PSO's that can patrol the immediate area. Ian The commission flats management should do something about proper security and cleaning. The injecting room saves lives, and there is no point moving it to where people don't go and don't deal. Edwina The amount of needle litter completely disappeared in the first couple months of the trial because there were council workers cleaning up every day. Once the media attention died down, the clean ups rarely happen and now needles are found everywhere. It needs to be done. But done right. Hopefully it doesn't close and is considered a failed attempt. The users are clearly needing help. Steve