DOCTOR QUITS HEROIN PROGRAM

A doctor hired six months ago to help treat heroin addicts at the Hamilton
jail quit suddenly this week. Dr. Lisa Doupe, one of three doctors at the
Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, resigned Monday effective immediately.
She said she could best make change elsewhere.

"My resignation was a personal decision," said Doupe. "I'd much rather work
constructively ... My whole life has been about returning people to
function, returning people to work ... That is my raison d'etre as a
physician ... (My resignation) is not a statement. It's just an issue. It
didn't fit for me."

Doupe was hired in April to replace a doctor who disagreed with the jail's
philosophy to dispense methadone to inmates.

The controversial program, which began in December, is believed to be an
effective therapy for heroin addiction. The jail's deputy superintendent,
Barry McDonnell, said management has arranged replacement doctors and a
search for her replacement is under way.

McDonnell wouldn't comment on resignation. "It's an employee-employer
relationship. We're not prepared to discuss it," he said.

Doupe, who worked at the jail four days a week, said she will continue to
treat patients with methadone at her Main Street West practice with Dr.
Gary Jollymore.

She has operated a private practice for 27 years.

Doupe, 54, and Jollymore are the only two doctors in Hamilton who prescribe
the drug.

When asked why she would opt out of the jail if she was an ardent supporter
of the methadone program she said: "I didn't opt out, let me tell you ... I
personally found it very challenging and actually very satisfying."

But she added she didn't feel pressured to resign. "I just have a lot of
things on the go," said Doupe, who also runs a health consulting business
in Toronto where she lives.

She hesitated to comment on the progress of the jail's methadone treatment
program saying it is still "in its early days." She said introducing any
new medical program, such as the methadone program, "is like trying to turn
the Titanic around."

There has been a shakeup at the jail in recent months. Doupe's recent
hiring came a few months before Superintendent Cathy Morris replaced Diane
Doherty. McDonnell's new post is not yet a week old. Doupe's resignation
comes the same week Liberal MPP Dominic Agostino stood during Question
Period at Queen's Park and harshly criticized the operation of Barton
Street jail as a "powder keg waiting to explode."

He said understaffing and practices, such as having guards dispense
prescription drugs to inmates, were dangerous and unsatisfactory.

Agostino said he's suspicious about the timing of her departure.

"I hope its not related to any situations that have occurred in the past.
If there are problems there, I hope the administration comes clean. It
comes on the heal of a recent death, on the heels of staffing problems and
morale problems."

Kimberly McLean, 29, of St. Catharines, was found dead in her cell about
three weeks ago. Police are awaiting toxicology reports to confirm if she
overdosed. Police said McLean was on the methadone treatment program but
Doupe said she didn't believe methadone was a major issue in her death.

The ministry said about 15 inmates at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention
Centre are on the program at any time compared to about 150 province-wide.
The methadone program was only part of Doupe's duties at the jail. She said
she took the job because she thought she had the chance to help inmates
reintegrate back into society but the idea of quitting had been "forming
for a while."