Fredericton addictions clinic not causing rise in drug users, homelessness, says doctor
Dr. Sara Davidson says 90 per cent of River Stone program participants were securely housed after 2 years
In an effort to dispel what she says are myths about the impact a Fredericton addictions clinic has had on businesses and residents in the downtown, the head of the clinic spoke before a city council committee Thursday.
Dr. Sara Davidson said the River Stone Recovery Centre has not resulted in an influx of illicit drug users to Fredericton and has not worsened the issue of homelessness in the city's downtown.
"We ask everybody who joins the program where they're from and … we did have three people who moved to Fredericton," said Davidson, speaking to Mayor Kate Rogers and other members of the governance and civic engagement committee.
"It's not the busloads of people, which I've heard we've brought here. It's just not true."
The River Stone Recovery Centre opened in July 2020 as part of a program funded by Health Canada aimed at reducing the harms suffered by users of potentially toxic street drugs.
The treatment options include injectable and orally-administered opioid-agonist therapy, which involves administering a prescribed opioid dosage to people addicted to drugs such as fentanyl and oxycodone.
The clinic also offers stimulant replacement therapy by prescribing off-label drugs to those suffering from addiction to drugs like crystal meth, and it has a rapid treatment program aimed at eradicating hepatitis C, a highly infectious blood-borne virus.
Davidson said she wanted to tell councillors about a new clinical trial the centre is participating in that is aimed at determining the effectiveness of treating addiction to drugs like crystal meth by using prescription drugs typically used to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.
But she also spent a chunk of her time at the podium rebutting a list of what she says are myths that some people in the city are perpetuating about how the clinic operates and the knock-on effects it's having.
"I just yesterday had someone tell me that a paramedic had said to them that a busload [of people] gets shipped in from Ontario on a regular basis to take part in our program," said Davidson, in an interview after her presentation.
"I don't know where that came from."
Clinic's successes
Davidson said her clinic's program is not making the city's homeless problem worse, but rather has improved things.
She said 60 per cent of the patients who were homeless when they started the injectable opioid-agonist therapy program reported being housed after 12 months, and 90 per cent reported finding a home after two years.
She said 85 per cent of participants in the same program also reported they no longer were stealing to survive.
Davidson said the problem of addiction existed before the clinic. However, its opening coincided with the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, which she said exacerbated social problems in a very visible way.
Social supports for many vulnerable people became precarious as a result of pandemic restrictions, she said.
On top of that, home prices and rent costs have surged at a time when no new public housing has been built in New Brunswick in nearly 40 years.
"So really, a lot of conflating factors all came at the same time that we opened."
Blame being misplaced, says mayor
Speaking after the presentation, Rogers said she's heard the concerns from some residents about the clinic and the connection that's been made to a perceived rise in crime in the downtown.
She said she's sensitive to those concerns, but believes there's misplaced blame being directed at the clinic when there are bigger social issues at play.
"If everyone operates under this assumption that the issues that are happening downtown are caused by River Stone, then it doesn't help us actually to get to the real crux of the problem," Rogers said.
"We need to get to ... what is the core issue, so that we can address it in that way. It's not helpful for people to be saying it's one thing, when maybe in fact it's something else that we need to be exploring."
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