Emeritus professor Bob Douglas said public attitudes towards the initiative have shifted dramatically over the decades, with a lack of political support quashing multiple proposals since the mid-1990s.

"The climate is changing, and I have little doubt it's changed to the point where we could reduce the cost of imprisoning people and reduce the harm to families," Emeritus Professor Douglas said.

"Now is definitely the time for a safe injecting room."

The proposal for a safe injecting room has surfaced after being included in the territory government's ACT Drug Strategy Action Plan.

Emeritus Professor Douglas said the current attempt for the room could look to the past to learn why previous plans failed to get off the ground.

A trial looking into the effectiveness of providing heroin to addicts was first proposed in 1991 by former ACT health minister Michael Moore.

The plan was approved by the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy in 1997, and would have involved 40 heroin users in the ACT over a six-month period.

While the plan was supported by then-ACT Chief Minister Kate Carnell, it had several high-profile opponents, including the Prime Minister.

"John Howard quashed the proposal, even though we had a proposal supported by the ministerial council to undertake a trial in Canberra," Emeritus Professor Douglas said.

"It was very frustrating for us. We had a team at the national centre of epidemiology, and had worked for four years on the proposal."

At the time of the trial's proposal, the public were mainly against the idea, according to Emeritus Professor Douglas.

"The community believed that you can stamp out recreational drug use by putting people in prison and imposing draconian sentences on them. It just doesn't work," he said.

"There's now an entirely different environment to the 90s."

A safe injecting room was proposed soon after the heroin trial was rejected, with Michael Moore outlining a plan for one in Civic in 1998, before it was rejected the following year.

While Kate Carnell and then-Opposition Leader Jon Stanhope voiced their support for a safe injecting room at the time, branches of the Canberra Liberals passed a resolution calling for no further action on the scheme without a referendum.

Debate on the issue continued into the new millennium, although it reached an impasse, with the government at the time agreeing to defer the idea until after the 2002 ACT election.

In the time since debate stalled in the ACT, two safe injecting rooms have been set up, one in Sydney's King Cross and one opening this year in Richmond in Melbourne.

Emeritus Professor Douglas said the facilities in Sydney and Melbourne have proved to be a success.

"If a room in Canberra can do it as well as they have in Sydney, it would have a huge impact on Canberra's drug problem," he said.

"The world environment is changing rapidly, and Australia needs to catch up."

Earlier this week, ACT Health Minister Meegan Fitzharris said the government was looking to implement a safe injecting room due to a rise of opioid-related deaths, with more than 1000 overdose presentations to Canberra's hospitals every year.

"We know the effects of drug use can be devastating, not only for those who use drugs, but also for their friends and family and the broader community," Ms Fitzharris said.

A recent report by think tank Australia 21, stated more safe injecting rooms should be established as part of a harm-minimisation strategy.

Among the other recommendations from the report, which came from a round table of drug experts earlier this year, found law enforcement efforts should focus on manufacturers and create new infrastructure for drug treatment and rehabilitation.

"Long-term legalisation of drugs should be a carefully evaluated, incremental process, commencing with officially recognised “decriminalisation” of some currently illicit drugs," the report said.

Emeritus Professor Douglas said with the public attitude having shifted on the idea of a safe injecting room, he hoped one will be operating in Canberra as soon as possible.

"The previous approach to drugs has not worked. The prison authorities and police and judges are now agreeing we have to have a rethink on the issue," he said.