METHADONE CLINIC FINDS NEW HOME

Pushed from the northeast this year by zoning problems, then the
southwest by hostile residents, a drug-addiction clinic now believes
it has found a more permanent home in Calgary's industrial southeast.

The city has given approval for Second Chance Clinic to operate in a
shopping centre in Foothills Industrial Park, the lawyer for the
methadone clinic's operator announced Monday.

The new facility will be far from any residential areas -- far from
the community anger and fears it provoked in Braeside. The clinic will
leave that community as soon as next month.

"Second Chance hopes this will prevent a repetition of objections by
some aldermen and community associations who failed to appreciate that
the clinic operates in essentially the same manner as most doctors'
offices and that its patients require essential medical services in
their ongoing fight against addiction," a statement from lawyer Hugh
Ham's office said.

The clinic's development permit is not final until next week's
deadlines for nearby businesses or property owners to lodge appeals.

Neither the clinic nor the law firm could be reached for further
comment Monday.

The facility has operated in Braeside without incident since July. It
has been fighting what it calls unfair and unfounded perceptions that
its patients, as recovering addicts, pose a threat to nearby residents.

This spring, Second Chance was told to leave a northeast industrial
park after it was found to have improper zoning and had raised the ire
of the nearby community association.

It was deterred from moving to Forest Lawn after Ald. Andre Chabot
raised worries about the clinic's proximity to a day care, and it
moved to Braeside this summer. It threatened to leave Calgary
altogether after a hostile community gathering made it clear the
clinic wasn't welcome in the southwest neighbourhood.

Second Chance has since then withdrawn that threat and quietly
operated in Braeside as it waited to relocate.

Kim Edwards of the Braeside Community Association said residents may
have been fine with the clinic if Second Chance had done more to
explain its operations to them.

"You've got residents who are looking at a perceived fear of the
unknown, right?" Edwards said. "But, I mean, it's ended well. We've
had no problems. No crimes reported."

To further soothe concerns about patients loitering, Second Chance
noted that it will not store or dispense methadone on-site in the
Foothills plaza and instead distribute it from an undisclosed downtown
location.

It's not immediately clear when the clinic plans to relocate to the
southeast industrial area.

Second Chance has operated in Calgary since 2003, offering counselling
and methadone to 500 recovering addicts every year. It boasts an 85
per cent success rate.