Pubdate: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Mike Howell, Staff writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) MILLIONAIRE BACKS MAYOR'S DRUG PLAN A local philanthropist and chairman of the largest independent diagnostic laboratory in B.C. will donate $50,000 to support Mayor Sam Sullivan's plan to create a drug maintenance program for female sex trade workers. Dr. Donald Rix of MDS Metro Laboratory Services, whose company operates two Downtown Eastside methadone clinics, said he hoped his contribution would help the mayor achieve his controversial plan. "Properly done, it might help deal with the problem," said Rix, a former general practitioner. "The problem is not going to go away, you can't sweep it under the carpet. It will continue, it's going to be there. So why not try a drug maintenance program and see how successful it might be?" Rix met with Sullivan this month to discuss the program. He agrees with the mayor that a credible group with related expertise should set up the program. So far, a group hasn't been identified, nor has a budget. However, with Rix's $50,000 and another $10,000 offered by Marco Romero, president of Polaris Minerals Corporation, the mayor's plan is gaining momentum. Sullivan has told the Courier that another person, whom he wouldn't name, is prepared to donate $500,000. If the program operates and is successful, Rix said he would donate more money. "It's easy to sit on your hands and do nothing," he said. The mayor's plan involves prescribing drugs or substitutes to sex trade workers to help reduce the need for women to sell their bodies to get money for drugs. The program would kick in only after social service agencies attempted to get a sex trade worker treatment, counselling, housing or job training. Shortly after getting his medical degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1957, Rix was a general practitioner for five years in Vancouver and did stints at the Salvation Army's East Side drop-in clinic. Some of his patients included sex trade workers. "I have a little knowledge of this area and I have seen all the problems," he said. Rix, professor emeritus of pathology at the University of B.C., has an extensive medical background. He helped found MDS Metro Laboratory Services and Cantest Laboratory Services in Vancouver. He and his family have donated millions of dollars for health, the arts and education in B.C., including $4 million last year to the University of B.C. Half went to bursaries for medical students and the other half for a variety of needs ranging from athletics to early childhood development. UBC commemorated Rix by naming a lecture theatre at the university's Life Sciences Centre-home to the medical undergraduate program-the Dr. Donald Rix Lecture Theatre. The Donald Rix Building on campus, which gives small companies a place to grow, was named after Rix gave UBC more than $1 million. A former rower, he also gave $250,000 last year toward the building of the UBC John M.S. Lecky Boathouse for rowers in Richmond. Politically, Rix is backing longtime friend and fellow doctor Vancouver-Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry's bid for the Liberal leadership run. He introduced Fry when she announced her bid last month in Stanley Park. He gives money, he said, because he was brought up that way. "When I was in general practice, I was the junior [physician] in the practice, and the junior collected for the United Way. So I went up and down the street and collected for the United Way. Some people would give me money that maybe were having a hard time or just starting up and other people who could easily afford to give me $100 or $200, wouldn't give me a cent. I could never understand those people." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman