'THERE WON'T BE DRUG DEALS'

Clinic Tries To Allay Seniors' Fears

Seniors who live in a Somerset Street building where a methadone
clinic is to be opened next week say the clinic will bring hard drug
addicts and violent crime to their neighbourhood.

Some said they believe the clinic, which uses methadone as a
replacement treatment for addiction to opioids like heroin and
codeine, will bring dangerous drug addicts to the mixed-residential
and commercial area.

"I'm keeping my door locked, and I'm buying a big bolt for it," said a
visibly angry Sunny Dodson, 68. "I'm afraid of being stabbed or
mugged. Move it somewhere else."

The clinic, located at 401 Somerset St. W. near Bank Street, is housed
in the same building as the seniors residence, several businesses and
a community police centre.

The latter was no consolation to a 69-year-old man who didn't want to
be identified because he fears drug addicts to be treated at the
clinic will "come after" him.

"We have a police station there, but it's open for four hours a day in
the afternoon. Well, we need it at night ... there's nobody there half
the time."

The same sentiment was expressed in the dry cleaners next to where the
clinic will open.

A worker, who gave her first name as Monique, said she fears being
robbed after the doors open.

"At first I was happy because I thought it was a doctor's office
opening," she said. "But now I don't like it. There are seniors up
there who come down to stretch their legs and kids who come to visit
their grandparents.

"I think it's good they're going to have it -- people need the help --
but they could have put it in another area."

The fact that people are finding out only days before the opening what
kind of clinic it is, is what enraged Shawn Dearn.

The president of the condominium board in the next building, he said
the doctors behind the clinic could have been much more transparent in
the planning phase.

"Doctors opening this clinic did it in a way that's not very up
front," Mr. Dearn said. "There were no public consultations ... they
wanted to keep this under the radar of the police, the city and the
residents."

One of the doctors from the Ontario Addiction Treatment Centres, which
is bringing the clinic to Ottawa, Jeff Daiter, expressed
disappointment at the community's reaction. He said the reason people
are so frightened is that they don't understand it.

"The view currently is that anyone addicted to drugs is a low-class
degenerate, so it puts people at risk of being harmed by proximity or
location," Dr. Daiter said. "These people coming to the clinic are
people seeking therapy."

He said he didn't blame the residents for reacting as they have,
admitting he would too if he didn't know about drug addiction.

"Somehow addiction is relegated to a lower level of medical
treatment," he said. "One hundred years ago, we chastised
schizophrenics and people with mental disorders, but now it's
recognized as a medical condition. Addiction is a medical condition as
well."

He added that people who would be using the clinic are already going
through a lot to be there, and they are further marginalized by a
society that treats them as "druggies or junkies. There's a negative
attitude, so it's a matter of educating people. There won't be drug
deals in front of the clinic and people just loitering around."