WYONG SAYS NO TO DRUGS

A legal stand-off is emerging between the State Government and Wyong
Council over a Health Department plan to provide alternative methadone
services for 230 addicts after the closure of a private clinic on the
Central Coast.

Wyong Council, which is forcing the closure of the 12-year-old Long
Jetty clinic and has voted to ban any new methadone facilities in the
municipality, has signalled it will not accept a compromise package
designed to place two small methadone dispensaries in the grounds of
Wyong and Long Jetty Hospitals.

It is understood the NSW Health Department rescue plan is based on the
dispensaries each serving between 60 and 80 patients and another 60 or
so patients joining Gosford Hospital's methadone clientele. The
balance would come under the care of GPs and pharmacies.

The general manager of Wyong Council, Mr John Dawson, said any
proposal would have to go through normal planning processes.

"The Government has to stay within the law as much as we do. There is
no DA [development application] with us and no action has been taken
...

"However we would have to say that if they are planning to put it [a
dispensary] at Wyong Hospital, there is little purpose and as for Long
Jetty - there it is simply not permissible."

The compromise package is expected not only to require the creation of
new facilities but the allocation of extra staff. The additional cost
is estimated at $700,000 a year.