Needle vending machine will increase drug use: locals

A plan to install syringe vending machines across heroin hotspots has outraged Melbourne residents.

The machines will distribute syringes in Richmond, Footscray, St Kilda and Braybrook, but locals fear it will increase drug use as well as the number of needles discarded in streets.

"I used to find (addicts) in the backgarden all the time shooting up so I've now put a heavy padlock on the gate to stop them getting in," Richmond man Simon Jones told the Herald Sun.

"The annoying thing is there is a needle drop box outside my house but the addicts are too lazy to use it, they just throw them over my fence."

At present the North Richmond Community Health Centre provides new needles on weekdays but is closed on Saturdays and Sundays.

Staff told the Herald Sun that addicts regularly break into a bin for used needles when they cannot access clean ones.

The vending machines have been used in NSW since 1992, and also exist in Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and the ACT.