Vicki Howard bears the scars of life in a street overrun by heroin addicts.

A needle-thin scar that follows the line of her jaw was given to her by an addict who was shooting up in the gravel laneway that runs behind her house.

Vicki Howard (pictured with her daughter Gail Mann) was attacked by an addict. Credit:Justin McManus

"We told him to move on, but he started arguing the point, and I started arguing back, of course. Next minute he attacked my daughter, he grabbed a pole and came back and started hitting both of us."

Little Charles Street, Abbotsford, where Ms Howard lives, is ground zero for the heroin crisis that has exploded in Melbourne in the past two years.