HAT WELCOMING OF METHADONE CLINIC

While heated debate raged over a methadone clinic in Calgary, up to
300 patients in the Medicine Hat and surrounding area have easily
accessed services for the last four years.

Bill Leslie, director of the Chinook Alberta Methadone Program (CAMP),
has devoted his life to helping people who are opiate-dependant. He's
invested most of his life savings and poured his heart into clinics in
Red Deer, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat to help wean opiate abusers from
their addiction.

There are currently 200 patients in the Medicine Hat area and many
have successfully completed the program, he says.

What differed for residents in Calgary is still unclear but Leslie
says it's unfortunate.

Shortly after opening in Braeside strip mall, the Second Chance
Recovery centre in Calgary said they planned to shut their doors in a
few weeks after community members spoke out against the clinic and
even threatened the staff. A lawsuit underway with the shopping
centre's landlord prevented the clinic from attending a town hall
meeting to address concerns and Leslie thinks their lack of attendance
may have also contributed to the outcry.

"Methadone programs are not accepted in a big city as they are in a
small community," he noted. "In Medicine Hat, Red Deer and Lethbridge,
people identify with the problem and we wonder why this is happening
in their little town, what can they do to help."

Perhaps it is the fast-pace of a big city, he speculated, or people
misunderstood the idea of "drug addicts" and assumed it was something
one would encounter in larger centres.

"We're not dealing with hardcore herion addicts like they do in B.C.,
we're dealing with our neighbours, our sisters, brothers, cousins."

Many of the clients are working people who may have been previously
injured and prescribed a high dose of painkiller they simply couldn't
get off of.

There has never been an incident reported in Medicine Hat and the few
complaints that came in about litter in the area were addressed by
requiring patients to return everything to the pharmacy, he added.

The Calgary clinic was in a building that is zoned industrial but has
bought enough time from the appeal board to try to find a suitable
alternative location, he says. Otherwise, the 500 clients in the
program are at a real risk of compromising progress they have made.

"Calgary has championed itself as the champion of the underdog, if you
look at the size of their shelters and what they have done for the
homeless . . . but the methadone program is part of that," he said.
"And I don't believe there's not a facility somewhere in Calgary that
can take this clinic."