Methadone Clinics in Hamilton

realcity · #1 Posted **Jan 8, 2011, 2:51 AM**

can we also move our halfway house and meth clinics there too

matt602 · #2 Posted **Jan 8, 2011, 3:26 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by realcity

can we also move our halfway house and meth clinics there too

I can get onboard with this one.

beanmedic · #3 Posted **Jan 8, 2011, 10:19 PM**

They are methadone clinics, NOT meth clinics. There is a huge difference.

realcity · #4 Posted **Jan 9, 2011, 6:51 PM**

^lol

Residents angry over meth clinic
http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/loca...er-meth-clinic

beanmedic · #5 Posted **Jan 9, 2011, 7:55 PM**

What are you laughing at? My post? It wasn't a joke. Anybody who goes to a methadone clinic is trying to recover from an opiate addiction and they have a prescription for methadone. They do not give out Methamphetamine (colloquially known as meth).

The article you posted is absurd. It's a classic case of people who don't know what they are talking about having an opinion. I have no problem living near a methadone clinic (and I do). I would rather live near a clinic for people attempting to recover from addiction than live in a city with no support for those who want to quit.

Just because the media may call it a meth clinic does not mean that it is the case. That's not an excuse for not educating yourself. http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...oneClinics.pdf

drpgq · #6 Posted **Jan 10, 2011, 7:13 PM**

Really? I work a couple days a week near the John St. clinic and I wish it would move as the addicts totally bring down the block. I'm also pretty skeptical as to their effectiveness. If people actually quit for good, where would their business be?

Quote:

Originally Posted by beanmedic

What are you laughing at? My post? It wasn't a joke. Anybody who goes to a methadone clinic is trying to recover from an opiate addiction and they have a prescription for methadone. They do not give out Methamphetamine (colloquially known as meth).

The article you posted is absurd. It's a classic case of people who don't know what they are talking about having an opinion. I have no problem living near a methadone clinic (and I do). I would rather live near a clinic for people attempting to recover from addiction than live in a city with no support for those who want to quit.

Just because the media may call it a meth clinic does not mean that it is the case. That's not an excuse for not educating yourself. http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...oneClinics.pdf

crhayes · #7 Posted **Jan 10, 2011, 9:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by drpgq

Really? I work a couple days a week near the John St. clinic and I wish it would move as the addicts totally bring down the block. I'm also pretty skeptical as to their effectiveness. If people actually quit for good, where would their business be?

From new addicts...?

beanmedic · #8 Posted **Jan 11, 2011, 12:44 AM**

I have responded to this methadone discussion in a new thread in the Downtown discussion. See my response there.

drpgq · #9 Posted **Jan 11, 2011, 3:31 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by crhayes

From new addicts...?

Maybe, although I always seem to see the same faces.

realcity · #10 Posted **Jan 10, 2011, 12:29 AM**

okay whatever, have it your way

realcity · #11 Posted **Jan 11, 2011, 1:19 AM**

okay good it can have its own thread

vid · #12 Posted **Jan 11, 2011, 10:19 PM**

Much of the opposition to it in Thunder Bay, where opiate addictions are reaching epidemic levels (we have had three pharmacy robberies in the past two weeks, where the robber used a bloody syringe to get OxyContin), is the business model depending on having customers to make a profit, which removes the incentive to help people. These clinics are a private business. (That's why they can go almost anywhere that is zone for, say, a dentists office; zoning was an issue with our most recent clinic, people claimed it couldn't go there but according to the law, it can.)

The actual clinics themselves (we have three with plans for two more, for only 110,000 people) haven't caused any real problems. Most people don't even know where they are (except the most recent one, which was controversial because a business owner two blocks away flipped out) because they're discrete. (The sign simply says "OATC", and their entrances are usually onto sides of buildings or back alley parking lots.) Of the three pharmacy robberies, only one was within a kilometre of an OATC clinic. The other was more than 2 miles away, but in an area where one is proposed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drpgq

Maybe, although I always seem to see the same faces.

I takes a very long time to recover from opiate addiction, you have to be weaned off very slowly. My uncle couldn't do it (he was murdered a few years ago), and I have another uncle whose girlfriend has been going through it for five years, on and off, with little real success.

A lot of people going to the clinics here (the bulk of the customers at our most recently opened clinic) are just normal people who unintentionally got addicted to their pain meds and need help, but sale of illegal pills is growing in the north, it is almost as popular as alcohol. The crime problem related to these clinics still isn't as much of a problem as crime in general; it's quite an insignificant contributor. If anything, the people controlling the sale of Oxys would be the biggest opponents; they'd lose customers.