METHADONE CLINIC OPENING DOWNTOWN

Calgary's first methadone clinic will open downtown next month and is
expected to help roughly 200 city drug addicts.

The provincially-funded $300,000-clinic -- which will operate from the
Calgary Health Region's doctors' office at 906 8th Ave. S.W. -- will help
users addicted to opiates. That drug group includes heroin, morphine and
codeine.

"Often people will stay on methadone for some time. It provides them the
ability to have a better quality of life, a more productive life with
better family relationships," said Karen Hala, manager of the Alberta
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission's opiate dependency program.

"As long as they are on methadone maintenance, they will have a better life
for themselves."

Methadone, which also belongs to the opioid family of drugs, prevents
withdrawal symptoms associated with coming off heroin and significantly
diminishes cravings. It costs about three cents per milligram, with the
average first-time patient requiring hundreds of milligrams per day.

If given regularly, it decreases cravings and the negative behaviours
associated with the addiction, said Dr. Bill Campbell, medical director of
AADAC's opiate dependency program.

"In other words, they don't have to steal," Campbell said.

There is disagreement within the medical community about the benefits of
treating a narcotic addiction with another narcotic, he added.

"There's tremendous resistance from the medical community across the board.
Lots of people don't like doing this, but the fact is, it has been shown to
work."

He said it decreases death rates and is an effective medical treatment for
the disease of addiction.

"It has significant social advantages."

Methadone maintenance is the most widely used form of treatment for people
who are dependent on opiates.

There are two methadone treatment centres in Alberta -- a private facility
in Red Deer and one which AADAC runs in Edmonton.

The Red Deer clinic has been servicing about 200 Calgary addicts. They will
now be able to use the Calgary facility.

There are roughly 6,000 to 7,000 IV drug users in Calgary.

Staff Sgt. Roger Chaffin of the organized crime control section of the
Calgary Police Service said the new clinic may help reduce crime as many
addicts support their habits through crime.