SENIORS OBJECT TO METHADONE CLINIC BELOW THEIR RESIDENCE

City Says It Can't Stop Facility From Opening

City staff and politicians say there is little they can do to prevent a
methadone clinic from opening in a retail space directly below a seniors'
residence near the corner of Somerset and Bank streets.

The Ontario Addiction Treatment Centres, a network of methadone clinics,
will open their newest location at 401 Somerset St. on Monday, after
receiving an occupancy permit from the city earlier this week.

The clinic will dispense methadone, a medically prescribed heroin
replacement in pill form for people addicted to the narcotic. The clinic,
to be staffed by five doctors, will begin taking patients early next week.

But it is facing strong opposition from occupants of a seniors' residence
in the same building and nearby businesses. Many fear for their safety
because they say the clinic will draw dangerous addicts.

Marc St. Onge, the property manager at the building where the methadone
clinic will be, said he believed the location was a good one for the clinic
- -- two doors from a community police centre.

As well, said Mr. St. Onge, there is another community health clinic at the
back of the building.

"If the city of Ottawa didn't want this site there, they would have stopped
it," he said, adding that the treatment centre's lease on the property was
"a done deal."

But city staff said they had little power to deny the clinic an occupancy
permit, since the building is properly zoned for a health clinic. Public
consultation is not required if no zoning changes are necessary.

The addiction treatment company, headquartered in Newmarket, is funded by
the Ontario health ministry through OHIP billing. It operates 19 methadone
clinics across Ontario, in cities including Kingston, Kitchener and
Peterborough. The Somerset location will be the 20th clinic opened since
the agency began nine years ago in the Toronto area.

Dr. Jeff Daiter, who is bringing the clinic to Ottawa, described his
organization as "a group of 41 physicians, partnered throughout the
province to offer addiction therapy to underserviced areas."

"Ottawa is grossly underserviced" when it comes to heroin treatment
centres, Dr. Daiter said. Toronto has 10 to 15 operating, he said, while in
Ottawa "there were small prescribers, but they've given up practice because
it's so overwhelming."

Until recently, Ottawa had two clinics where drug addicts could get
methadone: One at the University of Ottawa and another in St. Anne's Church
on Old St. Patrick Street. The St. Anne's facility stopped dispensing
methadone last month, according to staff at the clinic.

Dr. Daiter said there are between 800 and 1,200 people on the waiting list
for methadone treatment. His clinic, he said, could handle between 350 and
400 patients at any one time.

"Ottawa has long been identified in the 'urgent' category set out by the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario," he said. "It needs a
dedicated clinic."

Heroin addiction costs taxpayers $50,000 a year per patient because of
hospitalization and incarceration, Dr. Daiter said, while a methadone
patient costs the health system $5,000.

Diane Holmes, chairwoman of the city's health, recreation and social
services committee and councillor for the ward where the clinic will be
located, has asked the city's medical officer of health, Dr. Robert
Cushman, for a public information session. Ms. Holmes said she would like
to see the clinic move someplace "more into downtown," preferably in a
commercial part of the city core.

Mr. St. Onge said the owners of 401 Somerset St. were "very apprehensive"
when they were first approached by the clinic operators, but were convinced
once they did some research.

"We feel, as a landlord, that this is a good space for this. And
personally, I think they are going to be giving the community a great service."

Ottawa police staff sergeant Marc Pinault, head of the force's drug unit,
said law enforcement should be consulted when addiction clinics are opened.
"And there's never been any consultation on it, I've never been called."

Methadone

What is methadone?: The opioid drug has been around since the 1940s and
used as a medical treatment since the 1960s. It is not meant to be a cure,
but rather replacement therapy for drug addicts. Because drugs like heroin
produce extreme euphoria, or highs, followed by devastating low
withdrawals, they often preclude people from living normal lives. If heroin
is a rollercoaster, methadone is a smooth field.

What is a methodone clinic? How does it work?: Methadone clinics are
considered the most successful treatment option for people dependent on
opioids like heroin, codeine and morphine. Patients come in daily to
receive a supervised dose in pill form that lasts 24 -36 hours, as opposed
to four to six hours for heroin. Ideally, this allows them to get and
maintain employment and personal relationships. Attending a clinic is
voluntary, but patients must submit to urine samples to ensure they don't
have other drugs in their system. Counselling services are offered.