Pubdate: Wed, 19 Feb 2003
Source: Surrey Leader (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 Surrey Leader
Contact:  http://www.surreyleader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1236
Author: Andrew Holota
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

THE TARGETS WE CAN SEE

Given the way this city is chewing away at the methadone program in North 
Surrey, you'd think it was the very root of Whalley's evil.

Not exactly. But it is tangible, making it an easier target than the far 
more elusive problems of urban decay, crack cocaine addiction, transiency 
and poverty.

You can see a methadone dispensary. You can see its clients. If you shut it 
down by raising the business licence fee from $195 to $10,000, it looks 
like something is being done.

Junkies aren't known for making the best decisions, such as occasionally 
selling their methadone instead of using it as prescribed.

Therefore, if you can force them to take their methadone, it looks like 
you've done something else important, by keeping a drug off the streets.

In reality, compared to the carloads of crack, methamphetamines and other 
potent illicit pharmaceuticals out there, the impact of a handful of 
not-so-ex-addicts peddling their meth is miniscule.

According to provincial health authorities, there were only 20 deaths in 
B.C. last year related to methadone use, among 8,000 people on the program. 
That's .25 per cent. Hardly a crisis.

But, possibly spurred on by a recent New York Times article on the subject 
circulating city hall (relevance please?), staffers cooked up a proposed 
bylaw to clamp down on this newly revealed meth trade travesty by banning 
all "carried" prescriptions.

(On Monday night, council wisely sent the flawed decree back to the drawing 
board).

As a doctor pointed out last week, banning "carries" just creates a huge 
inconvenience for the long-time methadone patient, who instead of being 
allowed to take a week's supply home, will now have to report to the 
pharmacist to get the daily dosage.

As those pesky doctors will tell you, going on methadone is about 
incentives. Incentives to get clean, and stay that way.

A long-time recovering addict on methadone can function normally. Some hold 
down jobs. Raise a family. Contribute to society. An ex-junkie is generally 
an ex-problem.

Take away the incentives by making it difficult to stay on the program, or 
cause a recovering addict to lose his or her job, and some will pick up the 
spike again. That means more desperate souls back on the street, willing to 
do just about anything to get cash to feed the habit, like breaking into 
your house, or stealing your car.

When all the methadone dispensaries have been shut down, and all the 
recovering addicts are made to line up somewhere else to get their 
medicine, Whalley's chronic ills - the crime, the crack addicts, the 
hookers, the squalid shacks and the ruined lives - will still be there.

Before lashing out at what we can see, perhaps we should determine exactly 
what it is we're looking at.
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MAP posted-by: Jackl