METHADONE CLINIC WILL HELP HUNDREDS, PHYSICIAN CLAIMS

Once Bracebridge's new methadone clinic gets going, it could cater to
about 250 individuals on a regular basis, says Dr. Jeff Daiter,
executive director of Ontario Addiction Treatment Centres (OATC),
which runs the clinic.

Speaking at an information session at Riverwalk Restaurant Thursday
evening, Daiter outlined his new clinic's operation and touched on the
user groups who are benefiting from its services. He stressed the
urgent need for methadone treatment in the local community.

He said many people using methadone "are really the drug
addicted."

"Right now, at OATC centres we're treating over 7,000 patients (at 25
clinics throughout Ontario)," he said. "There are 27,000 people in
Ontario on methadone and that represents less than five per cent of
all the opiate-dependent people in the province."

Daiter said he treats a tremendous number of people addicted to
oxycodone and Percocet-type drugs, which are routinely cited as abused
drugs in this area.

The Bracebridge methadone clinic opened in November. About 65 people
have come to use its services thus far, Daiter indicated. That number
could grow to about 250 once the clinic is in full gear, he said.

Daiter is a proponent of methadone's ability to reduce
harm.

The approach to treating drug addicts, he said, is divided on the one
hand by people who believe abstinence is the main end goal and others
who believe in harm reduction.

Daiter said he will take people on as patients even if their end goal
is not to be clean.

"Because that's where they are today," he explained. "And I've got a
long time to motivate them, to work with them and to push them along.
If I can do that, great. If I keep them alive and out of jail, I've
won. And I bet you they think they've won if they stay alive and out
of jail."

However, in the methadone clinic, many people can also be found
preparing to change their lifestyle to a drug-free one, he noted.

"They may relapse, they may fall right off the program and have to
start again," he said. "But that's the whole idea - maintaining
motivation for them to stay clean."

The alternative to methadone treatment is to leave addicts without
treatment, which is undesirable, he indicated.

"This problem is not going away," he said. "If you arrest a drug
dealer, there are 10 more standing right behind him or her. You can't
treat drug addiction through the criminal justice system. We still to
this day incarcerate, that's our main treatment."

Daiter stressed that there are two main consequences for society in
terms of untreated drug addiction.

"Really, it's only 10 per cent of people who will become abstinent in
the long run and abstain from illicit drug use," he said. "But the
major two consequences are incarceration or death. The average
lifespan for someone drug addicted is 55 years old. And I can tell you
not a week goes by that I don't know somebody that dies, who overdoses
or is killed."

The cost of untreated drug addiction is $40 billion a year in Canada,
he said.

"That has to do with job losses, trips to the emergency room,
victimization - all sorts of things," he explained.

The OATC began in 1995 and is now the largest supplier of methadone
maintenance treatments in Canada, with over 40 doctors partnered
together in mostly rural communities.

"Most of our clinics are popping up in places like Sioux Lookout,
Longlac and Fort Frances," he said. "Bracebridge is our newest clinic."

As to the demand for such a service here, Daiter said in the past many
people from Bracebridge used to travel to Toronto for their methadone
supply.

"So in terms of social welfare costs, just by coming to Bracebridge,
tons of money is being saved."

The clinic is located at 500 Hwy. 118 West in Unit 5. It's open Monday
to Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday
between 9 and 11:45 a.m.

Two doctors work out of the clinic: Dr. Barry Mitchell and Dr. Liang
Liao.

Daiter said methadone works when it's used properly and people using
it can lead productive lives.

"Across every parameter, methadone improves their social functioning,"
he said. "More stable housing, less illegal activities. It greatly
reduces criminal behaviour and it's an effective means in HIV
prevention strategy."

He said those receiving methadone treatment come from different
backgrounds. It might surprise people to learn that many are ordinary
people with regular jobs, he said.

"You see them out and working," he said. "They are police officers,
they work in hospitals, they drive cab. They can be highly
functional."