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London
Ugly problem of addiction
Not only London, but the province of Ontario
and, indeed, all of North America have a huge problem on their
hands in dealing with prescription drug abuse.
So says Dr. John Craven, associate director
of Clinic 528, the methadone clinic on Dundas Street across
from Beal secondary school.
Prescription drug abuse -- notably of OxyContin
-- will be the biggest drug problem across North America in
the decades to come, Craven predicted in a telephone interview
yesterday.
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Four years ago, when his clinic moved to its present location,
it had 120 clients and a waiting list of 80. That total has
now more than tripled, to 700. More than 400 people use the
clinic daily.
Ten per cent of the clients are recovering heroin addicts.
The main problem is OxyContin, a prescription painkiller that
is based on opium, and thus related to heroin. The main source
of the drug are prescriptions issued by local doctors.
The issue resurfaced this week at a meeting of city council's
community and protective services committee. Ross Fair, the
city's manager of community services, reported that "the
increased volume (at the clinic) . . . is causing a severe
strain on relations with the community."
What the community has got to realize is that the suffering
of addicts, and the need to heal them, are far greater imperatives
than the discomfort people in the neighbourhood may feel at
the sight of recovering addicts, some of whom are mentally
ill and/or homeless and/or scruffy.
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Relocating the clinic would only move the problem somewhere else.
Moreover, Craven says his clients don't loiter in the area, although
a number of addicts do often congregate at the corner of Dundas
and William streets.
A compassionate society deals with a problem by helping the victims,
not blaming them.
source :http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Opinion/Editorials/2006/08/23/1770588.html
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