Fight to stay open too costly for addiction clinic
Last Updated: Monday, April 13, 2009 | 2:00 PM MT
CBC News
The city has given Second Chance Recovery three months to move from its location in the Greenview Industrial Park. The centre's lawyer says because another home cannot be found, the facility will close its doors for good. (CBC)Citing mounting opposition and costs, a Calgary methadone clinic will close for good when its current lease expires in two months.
Hugh Ham, the lawyer for Second Chance Recovery, said attempts to find another location have failed and the clinic's owners can't afford to continue the battle to stay open. The centre provides methadone treatment to about 500 people trying to kick heroin and prescription drug addictions.
Second Chance signed a lease in the northeast Greenview Industrial Park, which is not zoned for a medical clinic. On March 31, the city's Subdivision Development Appeal Board gave the clinic three months to find a new home.
"We can't stay there because of the zoning. We can't afford to fight a zoning battle with Alderman Bob Hawkesworth. It would take over a year. It'd probably cost $150,000 to $200,000, so that's impossible," Ham told CBC News on Monday.
'The clinic simply can't afford to keep up the fight. They're going to have to shut down.'—Hugh Ham, lawyer
After opposition from the adjacent residential area and Hawkesworth, who represents the ward, the clinic found a potential new home in a Forest Lawn strip mall.
But media attention and opposition from Ald. Andre Chabot soured negotiations with the landlord, said Ham. The clinic would have been located above a daycare centre.
"There's no real belief that any other alderman in Calgary is going to be any different," said the clinic's lawyer.
"The clinic simply can't afford to keep up the fight. They're going to have to shut down."
The only other methadone clinic in Calgary, run by Alberta Health Services in the downtown Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre, has a three-month waiting list and currently serves 300 clients.
Ham said that centre has said it could take up to six months to set up a system to accommodate Second Recovery's clients.
"The odds are many of them … are going to fall back into the hell of addiction," said Ham.
