METHADONE CLINIC NEEDS MORE STAFF

KITCHENER -- The doctor behind a controversial methadone clinic in
Kitchener-Waterloo asked for help yesterday to treat a growing number
of people addicted to heroin and prescription opiates.

Dr. Jeff Daiter told a conference of about 50 health and social work
professionals in Kitchener that he has faced resistance and criticism
since opening the private clinic in November.

But with his current caseload of 130 patients expected to almost
double in the next year, he said, there is a clear need for a
comprehensive program to provide addicts with the synthetic
substitute for heroin, plus supports such as counselling.

"We really shouldn't be judging people who have this disease,'' said
Daiter, who also runs five methadone clinics in the Toronto area and
plans to open four more. "We should be giving them a chance to
rehabilitate themselves.''

Then located in a Waterloo strip plaza, the local clinic frightened
many of its neighbours in July when police swooped in to hog-tie a
young client who was carrying a gun and a machete to protect himself
from dealers looking to settle a drug debt.

Soon after that incident, police said they suspected several young
people had died of overdoses after taking methadone that might have
been prescribed at one of two local clinics -- the other is a
smaller, longtime practice run by Dr. Ralph Stemeroff -- and then
sold on the street.

Daiter said concerns and complaints forced him to move the clinic to
a new location on Park Street near the Grand River Hospital in
Kitchener.

But he defended his harm-reduction approach, which treats addiction
as a disease and allows patients to determine what kind of help they
need, as an effective, cost-efficient solution to a serious social
problem.

"I encounter negative attitudes to methadone everywhere I go,'' said Daiter.

"Anything new is a little bit scary.''

Jacqueline Russell, a consultant hired to determine the need for a
full-scale program in Waterloo Region, said the conference was
organized to dispel misconceptions and educate local professionals on
the benefits of methadone.

A local committee has been pushing the issue and hopes to get
government funding to add more counselling and other support services
to existing clinics.

The number of people on methadone in Ontario has increased to more
than 6,000 from fewer than 1,000 in 1995 and the Ontario Substance
Abuse Bureau, an arm of the Ministry of Health, advocates continued
expansion.

A report by the bureau estimates addicts rack up $44,000 a year in
health and social costs, including crimes to support their habits and
police time needed to investigate them. With about 15,000 opiate
addicts in the province, that works out to an annual loss of $660
million.

At about $6,000 per patient, it would cost $90 million to treat those
same addicts with methadone, which eliminates cravings without
producing a high and allows people to put their lives back together.

"We have people on methadone who drive transport trucks,'' said
Daiter. "You could probably easily fly a plane.''

Of the 130 patients at his K-W clinic, 42 are addicted to heroin and
88 abuse prescription narcotics such as percocet and dilaudid.

Clients range in age from 18 to 54 and men outnumber women almost two-to-one.