METH CLINIC POSSIBLE FOR GP

EDMONTON (CP) - The spread of methadone clinics in Alberta has helped
triple the number of opiate addicts looking to kick the habit over the last
three years, say health officials.

But that network has to expand beyond the current five to serve addicts
outside the Edmonton-Calgary urban corridor, advocates also insist.

Grande Prairie or Fort McMurray would be good places for expansion, said
Brenda Moore, director of HIV North.

The Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC) says there were 350
methadone clients across Alberta in 2001, when its single clinic existed in
Edmonton.

Now, with a clinic in Red Deer and two in Calgary as well as a second in
Edmonton, the number of methadone patients has exploded to 1,020 provincewide.

"Previous to that, everyone in Alberta had to lift up their stakes and go
to Edmonton for a month to six weeks," said Bill Leslie, director of the
Central Alberta Methadone Clinic in Red Deer.

Leslie said that before the establishment of new clinics, the waiting
period for methadone treatment stretched to three months - much too long
for the average heroin or morphine addict.

"We had 240 come into the program in Red Deer that were not in the program
before, and we haven't even scratched the surface," Leslie said.

Dr. Mat Rose of Edmonton's Boyle McCauley Health Centre said Alberta's
clinics only offer excellent methadone access along the province's main
urban corridor.

"Every health region should have a methadone program," he said. "Opioid
dependence is a medical condition. Alberta Health needs to recognize the need."

Alberta Health spokeswoman Christianne Dubnyk said the province is
committed to developing a province-wide strategy for dealing with opiate
addiction.

Methadone is a synthetic drug prescribed by doctors to help addicts kick
opiates like heroin or morphine. The drug blocks receptors responsible for
an opiate high, but also prevents withdrawal.

It has to be taken daily, and treatment can take years to eliminate an
opiate addiction. After an addict is first assessed at a meth clinic, they
return every day for a dose of methadone.

Leslie said studies show the average untreated intravenous drug user costs
the health-care system $50,000 during their lifetime. On methadone, that
figure drops to about $10,000.

Rose, who works in Edmonton's inner city, estimates there are at least
7,000 to 10,000 opiate drug users in Alberta.