Most Australians support medically supervised drug injecting rooms despite only two life-saving facilities existing nationwide and the recent scrapping of plans for a third.
Research published on Tuesday found opposition to supervised injecting rooms has declined markedly over the past 20 years, down from 38 per cent to 27 per cent.
It is half that of supporters (54 per cent) while an increasing number are considered ambivalent (18 per cent).
Support was highest in the ACT and among university-educated and queer communities, while opposition was highest in regional areas.
The findings come as overdose deaths rise in parts of Australia and calls grow for drug harm minimisation measures.
Supervised injecting facilities, such as those in Sydney's Kings Cross and Melbourne's North Richmond, are designed to reduce death and injury associated with injecting drug use.
Clients can inject pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of trained staff providing clean equipment and medical attention where needed.
The Burnet Institute study noted the waning opposition came amid consistently negative media reporting about Melbourne's first injecting room that suggested otherwise.
The North Richmond facility opened on a trial basis in 2018 and was made permanent in 2023 after a review found it saved 63 lives.
Plans for a second facility in the CBD were scrapped in April, backed by the Victorian police union for being "in the interests of a vast majority of residents, traders and visitors" to the city.
Sydney's medically supervised injecting room in Kings Cross has been running since 2001 but successive governments have rejected calls for additional centres.
Campaigns for injecting rooms in Queensland and Western Australia have also been dismissed.
Senior researcher Dr Amanda Roxburgh said some media outlets traditionally had represented illicit drug use and supervised injecting facilities in very stereotypical ways, and often present those views as those of the public.
"Our data suggests there is greater support than some media stories would suggest," Dr Roxburgh said.
"Many of the community locals in both North Richmond and in Kings Cross (around the existing services) are supportive, as they know it means fewer public overdoses and discarded injecting equipment on the streets in their suburbs."
Uniting NSW/ACT, which operates Sydney's injecting room, says its staff have reversed 11,500 overdoses.
Its medical director, Dr Marianne Jauncey, said supervised drug injection needed to be provided at needle syringe services, which currently could not help a client at imminent risk of overdose.
"Overdose deaths continue to go up, every single year - why don't we use the infrastructure that is already set up?" she said.
