hinayana fates: Proposed London methadone clinic is too close to school, say city staff

Monday, February 18, 2013

Proposed London methadone clinic is too close to school, say city staff

City hall?s carefully crafted rules governing methadone-clinic locations are facing their latest test, this one over how exactly to measure the 300-metre buffer zone mandated around schools.

Hamilton-based Towards Recovery has applied to open a facility in a former paint store at 527 Wellington Rd. ? arguing it?s a near-400-metre walk to nearby Sir G.E. Cartier public school in London?s Lockwood Park neighbourhood.

But city staff say the acid test isn?t a stroll?s length, but a straight line between property lines. And in this case, the sites are too close and changing that measuring stick, staff add, would represent ?a fundamental shift? in the rules city hall spent 18 months crafting.

Planning boss John Fleming is recommending politicians reject the application, which is the second since London?s groundbreaking rules were put in place one year ago. (The other applicant, on Wharncliffe Rd. near Old South, was approved in October.)

This latest proposal will be debated by council?s planning committee Tuesday.

But it was first tabled five months ago to the neighbourhood, which was outspoken in its opposition ? an example of what some experts consider Londoners? wide-spread misunderstanding of methadone, clinics and the patients they treat.

Methadone is a liquid medication that was created specifically to be similar to opioids like heroin and some painkillers, but without creating the same ?high.?

It successfully reduces or eliminates the craving for those drugs.

But the perception of clinics attracted hordes of drug addicts ? rather than patients recovering from addiction ? has caused tension across London.

When the public weighed in on the Wharncliffe Rd. clinic, one resident told politicians: ?As far as I?m concerned, you?re legalizing a drug dealer in our area.?

?These (patients) are people who have made a decision to get help, to change their lives,? said Abe Oudshoorn, a Western University nursing professor who?s written about methadone clinics.

?In this way, methadone treatment decreases crime, not increases it. If we want drug- and crime-free communities, then we need sufficient access to all forms of treatment and support.?

The situation here is coloured by Clinic 528, the Dundas St. facility that?s played a role in so-called ?land-use conflicts? in that area.

That in part led to city staff?s zoning rules for future clinics, which among other things call for 300-metre buffer zones around schools, libraries, public pools and arenas and the Western Fair District.

Staff say the Wellington Rd. proposal is clearly in breach of those rules ? when measuring the distance as-the-crow-flies. But Towards Recovery representatives have said the distance to walk from their site to the school is upwards of 400 metres.

The staff report also cites parking concerns as a reason to reject the plan.

patrick.maloney@sunmedia.ca

twitter.com/patatLFPress

Sunday, February 17, 2013