METHADONE CLINIC RAISES CONCERNS

Downtown Businesses Against The Move

OSHAWA - The proposed relocation of a local methadone clinic is raising
concerns among local merchants and some councillors. For more than two
hours Monday, City councillors questioned the doctor and pharmacist
involved in the treatment of people addicted to opiates and also heard from
downtown merchants about the new home of the clinic.

Operating for close to five years on King Street at Nassau Street, the
clinic will be moving to the old National Trust building on Simcoe Street
just north of Athol Street. The building owner has applied for a building
permit which City staff said could be issued by the end of the week. That
matter will be debated in a special development services committee and
council meetings Wednesday afternoon.

"That's enough in my backyard," said Anna Visconti, a downtown business
owner and vice president of the Downtown Oshawa Board of Management, at
Monday's operational services committee. "My backyard has taken more than
enough."

She said business and building owners are concerned about the impact of the
clinic on the area. She said several owners were asked to rent their
buildings for the clinic in the last year but refused. The downtown already
has soup kitchens and drop-in centres for the homeless, she said. There are
certain areas of the downtown where people don't want to walk and she
doesn't want to see another street changed like that, she said.

Darryl Sherman, chairman of DOBOM, said a methadone clinic in the downtown
doesn't fit in with Vision 2000, a council-backed plan which calls for
retail, office and residential uses in the downtown. In an interview
Tuesday morning, he said the board has two legal opinions that the
methadone clinic is not a permitted use in the downtown.

City staff has said the clinic is a permitted use.

Dr. Mike Semoff, who runs the clinic, and Komal Khosla, a pharmacist and
owner of New Vision Pharmacy, told the committee the clinic has operated
for close to five years in its current location with many people unaware of
its existence. Its neighbours have had no problems with the clinic and its
clients, they said. They need to move to find more space, they added. The
clinic has about 480 patients who receive methadone, which reduces cravings
for opiates but doesn't produce a high.

Dr. Semoff has special training from the College of Physicians and Surgeons
to allow him to treat opiate addicts and to run a methadone clinic. Dr.
Khosla said his pharmacy is licensed to dispense methadone. The operation
has been audited by the College 30 times over the years, Dr. Semoff said.

At the clinic, people who are addicted to opiates (such as medication
containing codeine) receive a daily dose of methadone, a powder mixed with
orange juice in the pharmacy, Dr. Semoff said. His clients see him once a
week usually for counselling and prescriptions and visit the pharmacy daily
to get their methadone.

Methadone treatment is a long-term treatment and most of his clients will
be on it for the rest of their lives, he said. The methadone stabilizes
them and allows them to work and lead regular lives, he said.

Mr. Khosla said 80 per cent of his clients are working people who show up
at the clinic, get their methadone and then leave. The other 20 per cent
are on social assistance, he said. Almost all are addicted to prescription
drugs, he added.

To questions about clients loitering around and potentially causing
problems for shoppers and business people in the downtown, Dr. Semoff said
he doesn't allow loitering and works with clients to change their
behaviour. Mr. Khosla said a handful of people may line up outside the
clinic before it opens in the morning but they do so because they work and
don't want to be late.

Mr. Khosla said the clinic rarely has to call police because of problems.
Durham Regional Police Inspector Bob Chapman told the committee police have
had little business with the clinic. He added there have been six known
methadone-related deaths in Oshawa in the last 30 months and there are
connections to methadone clinic clients, but he can't say which clinics.

Not all merchants are concerned, however. Lisa Antablian, who has her
business four stores north of the proposed location and also lives
downtown, said she has no problem with the clinic's new home.

"It's fear-mongering," she said of the reaction to the move. "It's the
worst case of not-in-my-backyard that I've heard in a long time. It's just
politics. What we want to know is will they be good neighbours and bring
business to the downtown."

Outside the meeting, Mr. Khosla said he's frustrated at having to explain
and defend the clinic, when it's already been operating without problems.

"It's a little frustrating but unfortunately that's the reality," he said.

Both he and Dr. Semoff said they are willing to meet with local merchants
to discuss the clinic. Last year, council turned down a proposal to rent a
commercial unit in McLaughlin Square for the clinic.