Clinic has helped halve armed robberies: police chief

SAINT JOHN - Armed robberies in the city are down by more than half since a methadone clinic opened in the city centre last year, the police chief says.

It's the positive results in crime reduction Bill Reid was hoping for when he lobbied hard for the creation of the clinic.

"I can't say specifically that methadone was the end-all or the cure, but it certainly had some major impact on that," Reid said.

Methadone is given to people addicted to opiate-based drugs such as Dilaudid, OxyContin or heroin to ease their cravings. The clinic at St. Joseph's Community Health Centre has been offering methadone without mandatory counselling since last summer, as an alternative to Ridgewood Addiction Services.

Although there is a waiting list of about 100 people to get access to the clinic, Reid said the province has assured him it will invest the money necessary to ensure those that need and want methadone will be serviced.

"It's mighty important that we do not have waiting lists - and it's mighty important we give people an opportunity to change their behaviours and really affect stability in their lives," he said.

"I think we see that now with the numbers."

Armed robberies are down by about 55 per cent, he said.

"The folks that engage in these armed robberies are highly addicted, and really, in a lot of ways, don't understand or care about the consequences of their actions," Reid said.

"So you're left with a person that's so desperate, he or she would do anything to get the money and support their habit."

An armed robbery is a quick way to do that, he said.

Taking methadone alone isn't always a way to change someone's life, he said, but it does change behaviours so people can become more productive citizens.

Since drugs are the root of a lot of crime in this city, Reid said it was important for him to not just send people to jail, but find other ways to help people stop committing crimes.

Otherwise, they might just continue their criminal patterns after getting out of jail, he said.

"There has to be other ways to assist people to make wise decisions. And methadone certainly has helped a lot of folks."

At AIDS Saint John, Julie Dingwell has also seen the results.

"Anecdotally, people are always telling us how it's improving their lives," she said of Methadone.
Addicts will tell Dingwell - the executive director of the organization that gives out clean needles and safe crack kits - that they are in less trouble.

"They'll say, ?Last month I shoplifted 100 times. This month I only did three times,' " she said.

The average drug user needs $50,000 cash a year to support their drug habit, said Dingwell, another supporter of the methadone clinic.

So an addict would need to steal $225,000 worth of goods to re-sell and make money for drugs, she said.

She said it will be good when the clinic has more resources to hire another nurse practitioner and eliminate the waiting list.
Source:
Telegraph Journal Canada East