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.
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MAP posted-by: Matt