Pubdate: Wed, 17 Nov 2010 Source: London Free Press (CN ON) Copyright: 2010 The London Free Press Contact: http://www.lfpress.com/comment/letters/write/ Website: http://www.lfpress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/243 Author: Joe Belanger Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) CITY'S METH CLINIC STANCE ON TRACK TO GETTING IT RIGHT London city council made the right move to ban any new methadone clinics until the issue is thoroughly studied. At the last meeting of its term, council agreed to the ban proposed by planning staff, who want to study the use of licensing to control methadone clinic locations. The ban affects only those businesses whose primary service is dispensing methadone, not pharmacies, which the province also licenses but won't disclose where they are located. This is not about trying to block access to the help addicts need. It's about ensuring the impact on neighbourhoods and communities is taken into consideration before a clinic opens. There is no question about the benefit of methadone clinics. Hundreds of Londoners have rebuilt their lives going on the medication that helps them get off opiates such as OxyContin, which the province recently acknowledged is a health-care crisis. But the impact of specialized clinics, as opposed to pharmacies, has been well-documented. These include long patient lineups spilling into the street; large gatherings outside the clinics causing pedestrian congestion; garbage and littering; clinics located near schools, other social services and neighbourhoods; ill people vomiting while others urinating in public or selling their urine to clients; and the selling of methadone and other drugs outside the clinics. These are real, well-documented problems. When these clinics are located in business areas, they clearly discourage shoppers. When they are located in struggling business areas, such as Old East Village where residents and shop owners have worked tirelessly for years to revitalize, it becomes yet another obstacle to overcome. At the same time, anyone who knows a family or individual trying to escape the death grip of addiction knows too well the need for timely and accessible treatment. Considering the province is also reviewing how it intends to deal with this addiction crisis, it's a good time for the city to do the same. As many experts in the social services, policing and health-care sectors have noted, dealing with this crisis is going to take a community-wide effort and response. If that's true, then that means it also must take into account the impact of methadone clinics on our neighbourhoods. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom