Hundreds of people trying to kick a drug addiction have been lining up at pharmacies in Cape Breton every day under an expanded methadone program.

Methadone is used to wean people off heroin, OxyContin and other highly addictive drugs, and used to be only offered at clinics.

But last spring, some pharmacies started to dispense it, and now many pharmacists have found themselves on the front line of community efforts to help addicts rebuild their lives.

"Without us here, I don't know how the program would work, and it's working well and it's making [methadone] more accessible to these patients," said David Ferguson, with Ferguson's Drugs in Glace Bay.

More than 300 people on the island make the trip every day to their local pharmacy for a drink of methadone.

Ferguson sees the program as a way to help the entire community by giving addicts easy access to methadone treatment that helps them hold down a job.

"At lunch time they have to rush up and get it, so they can't necessarily run to another town," Ferguson said.

"We have people who weren't working and now they're back to work."

Many communities in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality have been reporting crime sprees linked to drug abuse. In fact, the police chief cites drugs as the biggest issue facing the region.

One 34-year-old addict says his employer is supportive of the new program.

"It was kind of like a black cloud over Cape Breton, so everybody's well aware of the problem, and they know you're trying to get help and they'll work with you," he said.

Though Ferguson is a big proponent of the new methadone program, he says solving the problem of drug abuse on the island will take a lot more work.