METHADONE FEE CHALLENGED

A Surrey pharmacy has launched a legal challenge to the city's newly-minted
$10,000 annual business licence fee for methadone dispensaries.

Priority Drugs, 10697-135A St., opened its doors last month and is
operating without a business licence, according to Surrey bylaw enforcement
general manager John Sherstone.

"They and their lawyers are challenging the bylaw. It's in the hands of our
legal department," Sherstone said.

"He's prepared to apply for a licence but not to pay the $10,000."

Pharmacy owner George Wolsey appeared before council in October, trying to
get himself exempted from the bylaw by contending Priority Drugs is not a
methadone dispensary but a full-service operation.

In October, Surrey council raised the business licence fee for methadone
dispensaries, defined as any pharmacy deriving more than 50 per cent of its
revenues from the sale of methadone, from $195 per year to $10,000.
Full-service pharmacies still pay the smaller amount.

Poor provincial regulation of the methadone program and a high
concentration of dispensaries in Whalley were the stated reasons for the
change.

Wolsey, whose business is located just a stone's throw from a needle
exchange, went to council later that month to argue his drug store is not a
methadone dispensary and asking for an exemption from the bylaw. He lost
that argument and was told to pay up.

Wolsey's troubles began last fall when he applied to the city for a
development permit for his pharmacy. In the permit application was a report
from Wolsey's engineer, which described the operation as a pharmacy to
dispense methadone, according to Sherstone. Wolsey told council in October
the engineer's report was wrong and that less than 50 per cent of his
business came from methadone patients. He claimed to be planning to open a
full-service pharmacy, an argument the city didn't buy.

Now the issue of whether the city is right to charge the heavy licence fee
will be decided in the courts.

"They're saying that we're not using the zoning appropriately, that it's
unconstitutional and that we're discriminating against their clientele,"
Surrey solicitor Craig MacFarlane said.

"We're not. He can get a business licence he just has to pay the $10,000."

MacFarlane said Priority Drugs is violating city law by operating without a
business licence and added no action will be taken until the court
challenge is settled.

Wolsey didn't return calls before the Now's press deadline.