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Calgary methadone clinic to close, can't find home

A methadone clinic in Calgary is closing in two months because it can’t find a new home.

CALGARY — A methadone clinic in Calgary is closing in two months because it can’t find a new home.

Second Chance Recovery services 500 clients recovering from opiate addictions.

It has been trying to find a new location since finding out their current home isn’t licensed for medical use, and its lease runs out in two months.

Executive director Bill Leslie was given a list of 150 sites licensed for medical use by the city, but he said finding a landlord willing to house a methadone clinic has been an uphill battle.

Leslie finances and runs two other methadone clinics in Alberta — one in Red Deer and another in Medicine Hat — and said this is the only city where there is opposition.

Leslie said the province will take over care of the 500 clients, likely through the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission program at the Sheldon Chumir Health Centre, which already serves 300 clients.

However, he was told by the provincial health authority that it will take up to six months to transfer Second Chance patients there, leaving clients without treatment for three months.

“I’ve been doing this for 16 years and I’ve never run into (opposition) like this in my life,” Leslie said.