Windsor methadone clinic zoning restrictions could be thrown out

Windsor councillors will have to weigh in on a controversial bylaw relating to where methadone clinics can operate, which appearsto be discriminatory.

Methadone is a drug used to treat people addicted to opiates, which include drugs like fentanyl, OxyContin and morphine.

Four years ago, the city passed a bylaw prohibiting a methadone clinic from operating within 150 metres of any residential or institutional property.

But it appears this practice may violate Ontario's Human Rights Code and that has prompted a rethink in Windsor about the bylaw.

Dr. Tony Hammer ofthe Erie-St. Clair Clinic in Walkerville told CBC Newsthat methadone is key to helping patients get to a point where they can move beyond theirneed to use opiates.

"Basically, what it does is to replace the need for opiates in these addicts, by preventing them ... from using opiates because they would otherwise go into withdrawal and also to begin on a journey towards putting other things in their lives, which means that they don't have to use opiates to blot out the various realities," Hammer told CBC Radio's Windsor Morning on Tuesday.

"It is the standard of care for the treatment of opiate addicts."

Hammer said that he was surprised that council ever passed the bylaw that is now an issue.

"The idea that you can zone particular patients based on the medication they're taking and the disease that they're actually suffering from is a grave injustice and wouldn't be allowed to be applied to any other area, in this case medicine," he said.

When the bylaw was introduced, Hammer said many feared that the existence of a methadone clinic would be a "gathering place" for people who would be behaving badly.

"Certain hysteria was raised by some political leaders in this area and of course there was nothing to substantiate it at the time," said Hammer, noting that the crime rates did not increase in these areas and property values were not adversely affected.

Hammer said his own clinic has worked with its neighbours in Walkerville, as well as with police, to ensure any problems are dealt with. The doctor said that his patients have done their part, too.

"I think the patients are very conscious of the fact that they need to be as non-disruptive as possible and to blend in with the local population. And I think largely they've been successful and I'm grateful to them for co-operating with us in achieving this," he said.

The city's planning, heritage and economic development standing committee is recommending that Windsor lift these restrictions that the bylaw lays out.

The matter will now go before council.

Coun. Bill Marra, the chair of the committee, believes the decision council is facing is pretty straightforward.

"Essentially, our bylaw is illegal and it's in contravention of the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for Canadians," he said Monday.