Pubdate: Mon, 05 Feb 2001 Source: Surrey Leader (CN BC) Copyright: 2001 Surrey Leader Contact: http://www.surreyleader.com/ Author: Kevin Diakiw SURREY METHADONE BYLAW SETS TREATMENT BACK A DECADE, EXPERT SAYS Addiction specialists are furious over a "discriminatory" Surrey bylaw that limits the location of methadone clinics to hospitals. "It sets methadone treatment back a good 10 years," says Peter Hickey, an executive director with the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons, the organization responsible for the province's methadone program. Hickey says Surrey's bylaw contradicts proven science about methadone treatment and says the legislation is discriminatory. "It borders, in a sense, on the interference in the practice of medicine. It's bizarre." Experts say B.C. has one of the best methadone programs in North America, perhaps the world. This province is about 10 or 15 years ahead of its counterparts throughout North America, according to Hickey. In fact, other countries look to B.C. as a model for their own programs, says Dr. Ray Baker, a specialist in addiction medicine. Texas, he says, recently adopted the B.C. model. The cornerstone of this province's methadone program is the combination of community clinics and private doctors' offices that provide methadone services throughout B.C. But Baker says the treatment of heroin addiction faced a major setback last week in Surrey, when council chose to restrict the location of methadone clinics to hospitals. Methadone clinics are considered essential in the early stages of the program when patient needs are high. Clinics can provide the attention a newly clean heroin addict requires, yet can't always receive, in a hospital setting. Addiction specialists say Surrey needs community methadone clinics that provide counselling, therapy, outpatient programs and medical treatment. And they must be located where intravenous drug use thrives, typically in North Surrey. However, civic representatives disagree. Coun. Marvin Hunt feels the methadone program works best when the drug is administered through doctors' offices and local pharmacies, as it is now. That way, the program is dispersed throughout the community, is easily accessible and doesn't require a larger facility that would attract patients from throughout the region. He's also reluctant to "ghettoize" North Surrey. Currently about 35 physicians in Surrey and North Delta - who are consistently trained, monitored and audited - serve between 700 to 800 methadone patients through their offices. "I would suspect there are a couple of thousand (more addicts) that could benefit" from the methadone program, Baker says. As for turning North Surrey into a "ghetto" that attracts addicts, Dr. Roland Guasparini, the medical health officer for the South Fraser Health Region, says the heroin users are already there. A local methadone clinic would simply offer them a way out of their addiction, thereby reducing any threat they may represent to the community. A successful program means fewer active heroin addicts, a lower incidence of HIV infection and less property crime, Guasparini says. Compounding the problem is that the region's hospital officials say they will not be hosting a methadone facility in the foreseeable future. Hickey says it's only a matter of time before Surrey officials realize what an immense mistake they've made. "Maybe you sit back and wait for the local crime rate to start increasing, and your hospitals to fill up with all the associated ailments and conditions of heroin addiction," Hickey says. "And then you turn around and say to city council, 'Okay, now what other bright ideas do you have here?' because they're going against all recognized science here." While physicians remain critical of the city's stance, several North Surrey residents congratulated city officials when the bylaw was passed. Residents complain that methadone patients walk the streets in a "zombie" state and leave hypodermic needles throughout the neighbourhood. An addict on the program isn't using needles, Baker says, and after about a month, shows no signs of methadone use. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe