FEW COULD ACCESS EARLY PROGRAM

HIV Edmonton's Sherry McKibben says the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Commission ran the "worst program" in Canada before a private methadone
clinic in Red Deer shamed it into expanding into Calgary. AADAC says that's
old news - in the last two years the agency has worked hard to eliminate
barriers to methadone access.

"Two years ago they were the worst program in the country," said McKibben,
HIV Edmonton's executive director.

"Part of that stems from an attitude that injection drug users are
irredeemable."

HIV North executive director Brenda Moore said AADAC's Edmonton program
wasn't very user-friendly in 2001.

"The program was set up for the people running it, not the people on the
street," Moore said.

AADAC figures show 350 people were in treatment in 2001, when the only
intake clinic was in Edmonton.

But most opiate addicts simply can't pick up their lives and move to
Edmonton, particularly when they face weeks on a waiting list with a hungry
addiction to feed, McKibben says.

The few that made it to Edmonton often either gave up or relapsed while
waiting.

When they did arrive, they had to call in every Monday at 7 a.m. to see if a
spot had opened up, she said - and few were ever in good enough shape to
make a lucid early-morning call.

AADAC's Edmonton clinic also had exacting standards for its clients,
McKibben said. Recovering opiate addicts had to submit to regular drug
tests, and if caught on any other substance - like pot - they could be
punted from the program.

AADAC has come a long way since 2002 in eliminating many of the barriers
McKibben noted, said Diane Lamb, manager of AADAC's opium dependency
programs.

"That's old news, and we've worked very hard to address those concerns over
the last couple years," Lamb said.

Testing for cannabis is no longer done, she said, and positive drug tests
are not used as punitive measures. "We don't kick people off the program
when they're using other drugs."