Articles
You Talk, We Die
Nathan Smith Books + Publishing
“You Talk, We Die is Ryan’s impassioned and unfiltered retelling of how she mobilised the community and people of influence… to finally recognise drug use in Richmond as a health issue and not a criminal one.”
Country Values in Action
Simone Kerwin Wangaratta Chronicle
“Having discovered the extent of the addiction situation after moving in 2012 to Abbotsford from Wodonga with husband John (a former North East Catchment Management Authority chief executive officer), Judy witnessed the death of a young woman to heroin overdose as she walked home one day in May 2017.”
‘Something broke’: how an overdose at her back gate turned one Melbourne woman into an activist
Sophie Black The Guardian
Around here it’s possible for locals to step from the slipstream of everyday life on a sunny afternoon to suddenly watching someone overdose in the street… For Judy Ryan, on one particular day in July of 2016, it was at her back gate.
Interviews
JOY FM 94.9
Macca & Nevena
“I kept imagining what the resident and authority response would be if this were happening in a country town, where people knew each other… because it was inner city it was a bit out of sight out of mind.”
Uncommon Sense
Amy Mullins Triple R FM
Activist and campaigner Judy Ryan discusses her new book You Talk We Die: The Battle For Victoria’s First Safe Injecting Facility (Scribe Publications). Judy, alongside fellow residents, successfully campaigned for the first safe injecting facility in the state after witnessing decades of tragic and frequent cases of lethal overdoses from drugs in the Richmond and Abbotsford areas. She delves into her advocacy journey and what’s next for safe injecting facilities in Victoria.
Think Again
Jacques Boulet 3CR
“In Think Again we regularly illustrate how society’s and the community’s response to matters of addiction, of poverty or disadvantage is too often one of blaming and stigmatising those who have fallen victim to these influences and of the systems that have caused them.”
Judy's fight for Victoria's first safe injecting facility
Sarah Kanowski ABC Radio National Conversations
When Judy Ryan moved from regional Victoria to inner-city Melbourne, she was distressed by the regular sight of bodies lying in the lane behind her house.
It was a hotspot for injecting heroin and Judy would often have to call an ambulance and wait, trying to help the person as best she could until paramedics arrived.
Judy and many of her neighbours became fed up with the situation and wanted better care for the local drug users.
So they campaigned for Victoria's first safe injecting room.
