methadone clinic has 30 regular daily...

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had with the centre revolved around thebelief it would tarnish the image of KerrStreet, which has struggled for years to revi-talize its image.

Hershkop, who is a family doctor, as wellas a board certified addiction medicine spe-cialist, said this is ironic because methadoneclinics actually cut down crime by turningdrug addicts back into productive membersof society.

“What methadone is, is a substitute. It’s aonce a day medication, which at the rightdose completely takes away all symptoms of wwithdrawal. What that does is frees peoplecompletely from their enslavement to findingenough money to get whatever pills theyneed,” said Hershkop.

“What that does is gives them both theresources in finances, as well as health andtime, to move on with their lives. That meansthey can go back to their families, go back towwork, go back to school.”

Hershkop said there is no shortage of need for methadone treatment. Around 30people attend the Speers Road clinic dailywwith 95 per cent of them being Halton resi-dents.

Local treatment is more effective,Hershkop said, because fewer appointmentsare missed and as a result more patients willlikely stay on track.

Hershkop pointed out his patients are not

the dangerous street people many think theyare.

“Over the last 15 years because of medica-tions like OxyContin and others, what we’reseeing more, much, much more, are peoplewho tend to be middleclass or upper middle-class who somehow got caught up into this,”said Hershkop.

“What happens very often is they start tak-

ing pills because they are prescribed orbecause they are not as frightening. Youswallow a pill it makes you feel a little lessbad and before you know it you are takingmore and more and then you have a very seri-ous problem.”

Hershkop said around 80 to 90 per cent of the people he sees have addictions toOxyContin and other prescription painkillers

as opposed to street drugs like heroin.Another misconception people have about

methadone clinics is that drug addicts congre-gate both inside and outside leading to alterca-tions and an unpleasant image for the area.

Hershkop said this is not the case at theSpeers Road clinic with patients simply com-ing in, getting their methadone, and leav-ing.

“I do not permit loitering,” he said. “It’snot a place where people are hanging out andcausing trouble.”

While the Speers Road location is smallerthan what it would have been on Kerr Street,Benakopoulos said it is easily accessible bypublic transit and area roads and is close tothe QEW, which makes the location ideal.

In addition to methadone, the clinic offerspsychosocial assistance and counselling withthe goal of helping people complete theirmethadone treatment as quickly and effec-tively as possible.

In the short time the clinic has beenoperational, Benakopoulos said he can alreadysee the effect it’s having.

“It’s really gratifying. We’ve been herethree or four months, we’re seeing patientsand you can readily see the impact and seeingthe patients get better and getting their livesback on track and it’s really fulfilling to seethat,” he said.

“These are people and we just want to helpthem regain their lives.”

MICHELLE SIU/ OAKVILLE BEAVER

OPEN FOR BUSINESS: Dr. Sheldon Hershkop has been operating a methadone clinic onSpeers Road for three months without incident. He previously tried to locate his clinic on Kerr Stretbut was met with opposition from neighbours.

Methadone clinic has 30 regular daily clientsContinued from page 1