METHADONE CLINIC WILL OPEN IN SEPTEMBER

By September, a methadone clinic will be open in Sarnia.

People who are addicted to illegal or prescription drugs use methadone
as a way to break their addiction. Methadone patients are required to
provide weekly urine analysis to ensure they are using the drug in the
prescribed manner.

Iris Murtha, manager of environmental health and protection services
at Community Services, says the need for a clinic in Sarnia was
uncovered during a two-year study of hepatitis C patients. The disease
is transmitted through intravenous drug use.

Murtha says over 250 people are currently travelling to the nearest
clinic in Toronto to access methadone clinics.

"Now that's not all intravenous drug users," says Murtha. "There are a
number of people who following a car accident have been taking
morphine . . . who have difficulty getting off these drugs. So, the
methadone helps them when addiction occurs following the use of
prescription drugs as well."

Murtha says the clinic is becoming a reality thanks, in part, to a
one-time grant of $42,000 from Lambton County Council. The money comes
from the Ontario Works program. Murtha says it would normally have
been used to pay travel allowances for people going to Toronto to
access methadone clinics.

"The clients who have been going to Toronto are supported by Ontario
Works because it is a medical appointment. So it's just diverting some
of the money from transportation to set this clinic up."

Giving the money to help set up the clinic will save money, she added.
The one-time grant is one quarter of what the county spends on travel
allowances for methadone patients each year.

Three emergency physicians will run the clinic, which is expected to
start accepting patients in mid-September. They have taken special
courses to treat methadone patients.

"The priority initially will be those who are already travelling to
receive treatment," Murtha adds. The clinic will also be accepting
referrals from local doctors.