METHADONE DEATHS TO BE PROBED AT INQUEST

Three Victims Were Clients Of Clinic
Oshawa Council Tried To Keep Centre Out

The practices of an Oshawa methadone clinic will be scrutinized at a
coroner's inquest into the deaths of four people who took the drug,
including a Grade 11 student.

Three of the four were drug addicts who were clients of the First Step
methadone clinic, which has been a centre of controversy since it
moved to the heart of the city's downtown two years ago. The third, a
17-year-old student from Bowmanville, obtained methadone from a "third
party" who was given the drug at the clinic, the inquest has heard.

The inquest, which began Monday, is trying to determine the exact
cause of the deaths and what role, if any, methadone replacement
therapy played, said Durham Region Crown Attorney John Scott.

Scott said methadone can be a "very good assistant" in helping people
get over severe addictions to opiates, ranging from prescription
painkillers such as morphine and codeine to street drugs such as heroin.

But the inquest, presided over by Dr. William Lucas, will try to
pinpoint "better ways of trying to ensure that deaths such as this can
be prevented."

The inquest, which is expected to last three weeks, will hear from
experts on methadone treatment and from lawyers for the clinic and
families of the deceased.

Autopsies determined that methadone was a key factor in the four
deaths, which occurred over a year ending in September, 2003:

David Joseph Stevenson, 28, died Nov. 12, 2002.

Craig Beers, a 17-year-old Bowmanville High School student, died July
13, 2003.

Steven Randall Pidgeon, 44, died July 16, 2003.

Judith Jenkins, 46, died Sept. 21, 2003.

Toronto lawyer Roy Stephenson, representing one of the doctors working
at the clinic, told the inquest yesterday one deceased had enough
methadone in his system at the time of death to "kill an elephant."

The inquest heard from a pathologist's report that Pidgeon had 0.78
milligrams of methadone in blood taken from his heart after his death,
compared to the recommended therapeutic dose of up to 0.12 milligrams
per 100 millilitres of blood. Based on these high levels, Stephenson
asked Dr. Nihad Ali-Rida, a forensic pathologist, if he had ordered
any other tests to determine if the patient had been given a wrong
dose of methadone.

"Why was there no further investigation?" he asked.

Ali-Rida replied: "We are not like (the TV show) CSI, we do not take
samples at the scene and take them to the lab for investigation. We
don't go to the scene and collect samples between the chair and the
table."

Oshawa City Council tried in February, 2002, to block the relocation
of the clinic to a former bank building in the downtown core, fearing
that it might increase the crime rate.

But its attempt to prohibit the clinic was rejected by the Ontario
Municipal Board and the courts. A 2003 PriceWaterhouseCoopers report
to council found the clinic had only a "minor" negative impact on the
downtown.

The clinic handed out methadone to 500 clients in 2003.