ADDICTION COUNSELLOR SAYS METHADONE FIGHT DISCRIMINATORY

OSHAWA -- A local addiction treatment professional says the real issues
have been lost in the shuffle during the City's battle over the relocation
of a downtown methadone clinic.

Paul McGary, Pinewood Centre's program leader, says there are tremendous
benefits to methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) and users of this
particular medical service are being discriminated against by local
politicians who oppose the clinic's move. First Step Medical Clinic, which
treats opiate addicts using methadone, an opiate that doesn't produce a
high, was operating without complaint from the City for close to five years
on King Street West at Nassau Street. Plans to move the clinic to a new
location, just blocks away in the old National Trust building on Simcoe
Street just north of Athol Street, were thwarted by City council. An
interim control bylaw was put in place to stop the move until the City had
determined whether methadone clinics were an appropriate use in the
downtown area.

However, the clinic's move was upheld following an Ontario Municipal Board
(OMB) hearing this summer. A building permit for the clinic's new home has
been issued. However, council is in the midst of appealing the OMB
decision. "This is discriminatory. (MMT) is a health care service and you
can bet this wouldn't be happening with any other medical clinic," said Mr.
McGary. "The people involved in this process are being misconstrued and the
public's sense of the individuals using methadone is really wrong. They're
not all hard-core street addicts, in fact, 85 per cent-plus have a history
of prescription pill use, not heroin."

The Pinewood Centre provides non-medical addiction treatment in Durham. Mr.
McGary said Pinewood has a reciprocal relationship referring clients with
First Step.

He says there is a real "cost benefit" to methadone programs.

The health, social and legal costs of untreated opiate dependency can reach
up to $44,000 per year. However, MMT costs only $6,000 per year with those
receiving it reporting less illicit drug use, better general health,
greater psychological well being, greater ability to maintain employment
and less reliance on social assistance, he said.

Mr. McGary also said it doesn't matter where they locate the clinic, as
long as it is accessible, agreeing downtown is certainly that. "The service
needs to be accessible," he said. "Wherever they put it, it should be
centrally located. It really doesn't matter whether it's 500 metres this
way or that way."

A letter from Mr. McGary outlining his position made its way to the City's
development services committee meeting last week and while Mayor Nancy
Diamond said council may benefit from hearing Mr. McGary speak, other
councillors felt they'd heard enough and a motion to invite him to council
was defeated.

"We need to bring some balance to this process," Mayor Diamond said. "Why
would we not listen to a local professional directly involved in programs
like this, what are we afraid of?"

Councillor Louise Parkes answered the mayor, saying the debate isn't over
the relative benefits of MMT as much as it is about an appropriate location
for methadone clinics, an issue she believes Mr. McGary can't help them with.

"We don't want to get distracted from the issue, which is location,
location, location," she said. "We have to stick with it or we are going to
hurt our case."

Councillor Mike Nicholson questioned why Mr. McGary's letter didn't address
what he believes are the negatives associated with methadone clinics.

"If it's so good then why isn't the clinic in the Pinewood Centre? Why
isn't it in the hospital? That's where it should be," he said. "What about
the mess this comes with? It may be great, but it spurs problems too. Why
do they need a 24-hour security guard? I just think (the clinic) does come
with things that aren't so great."

Mr. McGary said he wrote the letter to raise a number of issues council
might have overlooked. He said councillors should be made aware of the
benefits of MMT and how they are vilifying program users.

"I feel sorry for those who receive methadone treatment," he said. "They
must be getting the sense they are not welcome in downtown Oshawa and if
that's the case they are being discriminated against."