‘It’s madness!’: Neil Mitchell clashes with minister over injecting rooms ice backflip

“There will be one drug that won’t be allowed, and that will be methamphetamine.”

That was what Victoria’s Mental Health Minister Martin Foley told Neil Mitchell in October, 2017.

Today, however, we learn addicts will be allowed to use the drug ice at North Richmond’s new safe injecting room in a backflip Neil Mitchell has described as “madness”.

Up to three grams of heroin or ice will be allowed into the new injecting centre.

“That is a massive amount of the drug,” Neil said.

“There is a suggestion the ice user can come down in the rooms and not wander the streets.

“Well, an ice high usually lasts eight hours; how do the security cope with that?

“And we need to cope with that, because this shooting gallery is next to a primary school.”

Neil Mitchell put his concerns to Mr Foley in a fiery interview this morning.

Neil Mitchell: “Kings Cross isn’t next to a bloody primary school!” https://t.co/w5poG7cCD9

— 3AW Melbourne (@3AW693) April 10, 2018

Click PLAY to hear that interview

Mr Foley insisted the injecting rooms would be properly monitored by security.

Neil Mithell: “If you’ve got a 100kg ice addict, you can’t get enough (security).”

Mr Foley: “Well, If you’ve got large Samoan security, they know what they’re doing.”

An interim centre is expected to be set up by mid-year, with the final purpose-built facility to come online in 2019.