Pubdate: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 Source: Peterborough Examiner, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2014 Peterborough Examiner Contact: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/letters Website: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2616 Page: A4 MISPLACED WORRY OVER NEW METHADONE CLINIC That wasted, skeletal junkie you're picturing? The heroin abuser who sucks away at our city's social services like a decaying vampire? That isn't what methadone clients look like. Not for the most part, anyway. You could be sitting beside one of them right now. A co-worker. A friend. A family member. "Methadone" summons up old, stereotypical ideas of drug addiction. However, a good majority of people undergoing methadone treatment are ordinary folks who've become addicted to a drug far more prevalent than heroin: prescription opiates. Ocycontin. Dilaudid. Percocet. These little pills, easily obtained legally and illegally, are a growing, horrible problem in Canada, Peterborough included. This is why we have so many methadone clinics. And this is why Dr. Clement Sun is moving his quiet, unassuming little clinic into a larger space - a former pharmacy on a highly visible downtown corner, adjacent to a parking lot the city would like to turn into a public park. When The Examiner revealed this information earlier this week, the response was overwhelming. Social media was buzzing with people's reaction. Unlike much of what passes for dialogue on the Internet, though, this reaction offered up a fairly well-informed exchange between people who see and feel the need for methadone treatment clinics and people who don't want "junkies" out in public, downtown, near a park. Lost to many people was the fact that Dr. Sun's clinic has been right across the street from the site for eight years, with clients coming and going daily without problems. As readers reacted, though, so did the people with a stake in the downtown. The DBIA wants the city to buy the building back from Sun and put something a little more consumer-friendly in. But our city council, for the most part, supports Sun and has no plans to interfere. Will the park be built? Let's hope so. Like all city projects of its sort, its future depends on a lot of factors. This methadone clinic should not be one of them. Methadone clinics are essential components of our local health-care system. We don't dispute that. Nor can we be critical of a private business owner buying and moving to the property of his choice. While the public's reaction to the news should be considered, it's clear much of that backlash is based on misinformed, old ideas about who uses methadone clinics. There will not be an increase in crime. Scary drug addicts will not be prowling the park. We're talking about a modern medical facility, employing local skilled professionals, helping our friends, family and co-workers heal. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt