BLOCKING the approval of a recovery house on Gurwood Street will prevent addicts from seeking help in the first place, health experts have warned.
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Faced with overwhelming opposition from neighbours, on Monday night councillors rejected the development application for a 12-bed Riverina Recovery House at 199 Gurwood Street.
It is now the second time a site for the house has been vetoed. Lake Albert was ruled out last year in the face of staggering outcry from the suburb’s residents and parents of children who attended a nearby school.
The move has been condemned by health workers, who say it stigmatizes those fighting addiction and could potentially worsen addiction in the city.
Aboriginal Riverina Medical Corporation’s (RivMed) CEO Darren Carr has said he is deeply disappointed with the decision.
RivMed provides services for addicts such as counselling every day and never experienced problems with their clients.
It was usually the first port of call for anyone seeking to beat their addiction, he said.
Mr Carr said of the several thousand people that accessed the Indigenous health provider last year, only three had to be asked to leave because of aggressive behaviour and none of them were addicts.
“The decision is based on stigma,” he said.
“[Stigma] is a huge barrier to clients seeking help.”
Wagga Womens Health Centre crisis support worker Julie Mecham said also never had problems when those with addictions accessed their services.
“We never have any issues with problematic behaviour, certainly not in the time I have been at the centre,” she said.
“What we do find is that people use drugs and alcohol to try and block out the trauma they have experienced.”
Ms Mecham also said there was new evidence that the most common addiction they saw were to prescription drugs.
These were often professionals who still managed to function day-to-day and were therefore harder to spot for help, she said.
“I think council has responded to community pressure so I don’t necessarily have a problem with council’s decision,” Ms Mecham said.
“But I think the community itself has marginalised and made people with addiction issues the villains.”
Developer of the recovery house Debbie Cox has said she will keep fighting for its establishment in a residential area to allow the proper assimilation of recovering adults.
She told The Daily Advertiser after the decision she hasn’t ruled out a Land and Environment Court challenge over Monday night’s decision.
