New methadone clinic takes Pembroke by surprise
05.09.2008 21:02
Health
- Source: cbc.ca
Business owners and politicians in an eastern Ontario town are complaining they were given little or no notice that a drug addiction treatment clinic was moving in downtown. The clinic run by privately owned Ontario Addiction Treatment Centres opened last week on Pembroke Street, the main street in the town about 150 kilometres west of Ottawa. People addicted to opiate drugs such as heroin and codeine are referred to the clinic and given prescribed doses of methadone, a synthetic substitute, to prevent withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings. The costs are billed to the government-run Ontario Health Insurance Plan. Staff at the new clinic referred requests for an interview to their Toronto head office, which didn't return calls. With 24 clinics in the province, Ontario Addiction Treatment Centres says it runs Canada's largest network of methadone clinics. As a private business, the clinic was not required to give advance notice that it was opening, but Barkley O'Reilley, the owner of a neighbouring restaurant, said he thinks notice should be mandatory. Petition seeks to move clinicO'Reilley, who runs Merrybell's restaurant two blocks from the new clinic, noted that restaurant owners need to give 28 days' public notice when applying for a liquor licence. "Yet they can put a methadone clinic in, and no one knows about it and it's fine. I just don't think that's right." O'Reilley, who is circulating a petition asking for the clinic to be moved to a less central location, is worried about the effect the clinic will have on the neighbourhood. "One day it's a liquid treatment. the next thing you know you got the words flying around like 'needle exchange,' 'safe injection site' and all that." Others, such as Cathy Graham, a waitress at Ulrich's Deli, are worried about how the clinic will appear to visitors and tourists. "Is that the impression we're going to give, that there's a serious drug problem here?" Mayor Ed Jacyno said he sympathizes with people like O'Reilley and Graham who work at downtown businesses. Town council was given only a couple of weeks' notice that the clinic was coming, he added, and never got a chance to talk to the owners. "I think there was an obligation that somebody should come and speak to us," he said. "Perhaps we could have worked with them, saying, 'Perhaps this is not the best place to open your clinic, there may be another place in our community.'" Mayor raises issue with MPPJacyno said he has written to Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke MPP John Yakabuski about the issue. In response to his concerns, the owners of the treatment clinic are to give a presentation to city council on Sept. 16. Not all local business owners are opposed to the clinic. Melissa Lance, the owner of Perfect Hair Salon at the Phoenix Centre, the mall next to the clinic, said the location is ideal as it is away from residential areas and isn't in a mall. "The whole downtown, there's all people on drugs and what-not, and they need a place to go," she said. "It's central, it's accessible for them ... it's the perfect spot." Story Tools: E-MAIL | PRINT | Text Size: SMLXL | REPORT TYPO | SEND YOUR FEEDBACKRelatedInternal LinksAUDIO: Reporter Giacomo Panico discusses the story with Ottawa Morning host Hallie CotnamExternal LinksOntario Addiction Treatment CentresHealth Canada: Methadone maintenance treatment(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window) Health HeadlinesExtend power to admit mentally ill, medical ethicist urges Doctors in all provinces should be able to admit someone to prevent physical or mental deterioration of the patient, a medical ethicist told a psychiatric conference in Vancouver on Friday.U.S. posts drugs under safety probeHealth officials in the U.S. on Friday began publishing a quarterly list of prescription drugs under investigation for potential side-effects, with the aim of keeping doctors and patients better informed.Canada should screen for abdominal aneurysms in those over 65, group saysCanada should have a national screening program to diagnose potential abdominal aortic aneurysms in men and high-risk women aged 65 and older, the Canadian Society for Vascular Surgery says.Signs of Down syndrome found early in cell developmentDown syndrome may result from early developmental changes in embryonic stem cells, according to researchers who hope the genetic findings could lead to therapeutic clues.Food watchdog updates cheese recall for listeriosisCanada's food watchdog has released an updated list of cheeses recalled by Ivanhoe Cheese Inc. for listeriosis contamination. 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