Methadone Clinics in Hamilton

[realcity]

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

[matt602]

Originally Posted by realcity

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

I can get onboard with this one.

[beanmedic]

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

[realcity]

^lol


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

[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

[realcity]

okay whatever, have it your way

[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?

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]

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]

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?

I'm skeptical that you work near there.

That's about as silly for me to say as it is for you to say that you are skeptical that methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is effective. There is a large body of scientific social and medical research that supports the use of MMT with empirical data.

Any nurse or physician specializing in public health will agree. MMT reduces the transmission of infectious diseases associated with IV drug use. MMT, even if it does not result in somebody quitting the drug permanently, may assist in improving social productivity. MMT reduces the death rate among drug users. MMT reduces cravings and blocks some of the euphoric effects assiciated with heroin. There are many other benefits as well.

My background: I'm a Registered Nurse and during my undergraduate time at McMaster I took a class (HTH SCI 4L02 - Research Project) where I was partnered with the City of Hamilton's Alcohol, Drug & Gambling Services. We worked on a research project about MMT in Hamilton, and I can say for certain that it works. Also, I live around the corner from the clinic on John St. to which you are referring.

[beanmedic]

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

[realcity]

okay good it can have its own thread

[drpgq]

Originally Posted by beanmedic

I'm skeptical that you work near there.

I don't have a lot of time tonight, but I will respond to this part of your post.

I think that being skeptical of whether I work near there isn't quite the same as being skeptical of the efficacy of methadone as a treatment.

For your information, I work out of 27 John Street North a couple of days a week, which is definitely near there. We can hear the fights when we're working and often step out onto the balcony to see what's going on. I'm out of the country until Wednesday, but I'll snap a photo when I'm back. For me, I don't really care, my main customer is in Dresden. For others who work in the building, the addicts are definitely not a feature.

[drpgq]

Originally Posted by crhayes

From new addicts...?

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

[beanmedic]

Originally Posted by drpgq

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

You might see the same faces because many patients return daily for each dose.

[beanmedic]

Originally Posted by drpgq

I don't have a lot of time tonight, but I will respond to this part of your post.

I think that being skeptical of whether I work near there isn't quite the same as being skeptical of the efficacy of methadone as a treatment.

For your information, I work out of 27 John Street North a couple of days a week, which is definitely near there. We can hear the fights when we're working and often step out onto the balcony to see what's going on. I'm out of the country until Wednesday, but I'll snap a photo when I'm back. For me, I don't really care, my main customer is in Dresden. For others who work in the building, the addicts are definitely not a feature.

You should have read my next line.

[vid]

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.

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.