SoHo to be spared methadone clinic in its midst

A white knight has galloped into London’s SoHo neighbourhood to sweep up a property that was targeted by a large operator of methadone clinics.
Ontario Addiction Treatment Centres offered to buy 353 Bathurst St., the property’s owner, John McDonald, said Wednesday.
But two locals who have already heavily invested in SoHo then bettered that offer and McDonald accepted. He expects the sale to close March 31.
The two locals, Slavko Prtenjaca and Patrick Ambrogio, run Creative Property Developments and have already developed two commercial plazas on the south side of Horton St. and the old Great West Steak House on the north — next to 353 Bathurst.
Ambrogio is also a SoHo native, having been born and raised on Grey St.
The deal had been kept quiet in advance of the closing date, so many residents have been distraught about the prospect of a methadone clinic opening in a neighbourhood that already has two shelters and subsidized housing.
So when The Free Press broke the news to community leader Mark Woodward, he was relieved and elated.
“This will make a huge difference in the community,” he said. “The morale of the residents is going to go through the roof.”
Prtenjaca and Ambrogio could not be reached to comment Wednesday but Woodward had a few words for them.
“Personally, I’ll buy them a beer. We owe these two fine gentlemen a big round of applause for their continued commitment to the community.”

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/02/09/17216421.html

I read this and I feel as though I have just been trolled and trolled hard.

Since when does making things difficult for people in the community count as beneficial?

How can someone argue that creating circumstances whereby addicts are less able to get legal drugs and more likely to use illegal drugs to be a sign of 'community commitment'? Is that a morale booster?

The less access those addicts have to methadone, the more likely they are to use other illegal drugs and those drugs are expensive - and more often than not, that means crime will be committed to acquire the money to purchase them. This is not good for the community.

The drug-addicted criminals of London won't be traveling to Toronto to commit those crimes to get money for those expensive illegal drugs; they are going to commit those crimes right here in London and it is Londoners who will suffer as a result.