The disappointing thing about the debate over heroin injecting rooms in Melbourne is that there is no debate about whether the government should provide them.

Both Liberal and Labor support state-sanctioned places for vulnerable people to shoot up dangerous, illegally obtained substances.

The Greens and the Liberal Democratic Party are extremely libertarian on drugs and would probably allow them to be sold in supermarkets – well, chemists, at least.

The only argument is where in the city to allow the next so-called Medically Supervised Injecting Room.

This is a shame because the evidence is far from clear that drug injecting centres save lives.

It is...