ADDICTS' CLINIC WILL HOLD US CONSTANT HOSTAGES TO FEAR

Re: You could do worse than a methadone clinic, July 9.

The issue is far more complex than what Kelly Egan describes in his column.

The clinic is on the ground floor of a senior citizens' high-rise building.
Some residents frequently sit in wheelchairs outside the front door,
adjacent to the clinic, to enjoy fresh air.

The fact that they're predominantly immigrants who do not speak English
only adds to their vulnerability. They also are petrified of finding more
addicts' needles in their stairwells so they may become shut-ins. How do we
balance rights and ensure equity for all?

Ottawa is a renter's paradise, so Dr. Jeff Daiter could easily have located
the clinic in the Byward Market or in the confines of a hospital, clinic or
commercial area (less than a 15 minute walk from the current location)
which definitely has more of a need for a methadone clinic.

If patients previously had travelled to Kingston, surely the Market is not
far. Is the real issue the fact that the rent is higher in the Market? Does
this location have something to do with the fact that the rent is cheap?

It is totally unfair to expose senior citizens, children and women to what
could become a potentially dangerous street when there are so many other
viable options.

Not one resident of the 60 attending the community meeting had ever been
consulted before July 5. Dr. Daiter has never held any consultations prior
to opening his clinics. He had consulted other health practitioners who are
earning a healthy salary from operating the methadone clinic. None of these
practitioners live in the neighbourhood.

As a Somerset Street resident, I hope that we are not going to have to walk
around our neighbourhood as constant hostages to fear. Do your good work
somewhere else, where no one's rights are compromised -- such as a
commercial zone.

Sherie Purie,

Ottawa