TOO MUCH METHADONE: DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE

Pharmacies Overrun With Druggies

The City of Vancouver is putting a lid on the growth of methadone
pharmacies in the Downtown Eastside.

City council is set to impose controls on new smaller pharmacies after
complaints from local residents and businesses.

On the 400-block East Hastings St., there are three methadone-dispensing
pharmacies.

It's led to dozens of complaints to the city about crowds gathering outside
and making a nuisance.

"They have a significant number of methadone clients for their size," said
Donald MacPherson, the city's drug policy co-ordinator.

"Some of them cause some disruption at the street-level, because of the
numbers [of patients]," he said.

"We think it should be dispersed. We don't want to see a heavy
concentration of these pharmacies."

MacPherson said methadone should be dispensed widely, like other medications.

The smaller pharmacies have sprouted up in recent years to service up to
3,000 Vancouver drug users taking the heroin substitute, many concentrated
in the Downtown Eastside.

Seven days a week, methadone patients drink their daily dose in front of
the pharmacist, until they can be trusted to take their weekend doses home.

"There are lots of things pharmacies can do to minimize lineups and
loitering outside the pharmacy," said Brenda Osmond of the B.C. College of
Pharmacists, which regulates B.C.'s methadone pharmacies.

"There are also a lot of things outside their control."

Next month, Osmond said the college is issuing new standards that will say
"lineups are not acceptable and have the potential to jeopardize the program."

Instead of morning lineups, she said, pharmacists will be asked to make
appointments with patients during the day.

Pharmacists get $8.60 from B.C. Pharmacare for dispensing methadone and
$7.70 for witnessing the patient swallow it.

About half of all B.C. pharmacies -- 400 of them -- dispense methadone to
8,100 users.