METHADONE DOES HELP

I once worked at a pharmacy that still dispenses methadone today. The
patients that were a part of the methadone program, which is
controlled by a doctor, were not that bad. There were the few bad
seeds that were only doing it because of court mandates. Mostly,
people were doing it for the right reasons. There were professionals,
parents, young people, former cancer and surgical patients using the
service. There were a lot of people that successfully completed the
program and got off drugs and became clean. Most of the methadone
patients never bothered with the other patients. If once in a blue
moon they did get out of hand, it was at an employee. In nearly five
years, I phoned the police once but no violence broke out. The
methadone patients never troubled the neighbours. They were in and out
and back to their lives just the same as any other patient.

A methadone clinic does not directly correlate to trouble. If
anything, it means hope and productivity; less of a drain on our tax
dollars; keeps children of addicts out of the system; prevents
expensive court costs; reduces other medical-related expenses; fewer
inmates and folks in homeless shelters. It brings addicts back to
reality where they can deal with their problems and be productive
members of society.

Getting these individuals clean is vital to ensure that all of our
neighbourhoods are full of healthy, sound people. People are going to
complain no matter where the clinic is located. The clinic cannot be
put out in some random field in the county. Shipping the undesirables
off where they cannot learn from respectable members of society is not
the answer. Maybe we should all try harder to set a good example and
lead by example.

Melissa Menard, Windsor