'People have nothing to fear': Drug clinic owner
THE pharmacist behind a proposed drug clinic at Coolangatta has assured residents it would be discreet, saying few would know of its existence unless alerted to the fact.
Gold Coast Pharmaceutical Support pharmacist Stuart Craven fronted a packed police community meeting on Thursday to explain the operation he is proposing to open in Griffith St.
At the time of the meeting, Mr Craven had not yet formally applied for an operating licence from Queensland Health, but was expecting to do so within weeks.
He is proposing to open the opioid abuse clinic at 14a Griffith St, with access likely to be from Chalk St. Signage would be discreet and few would know of the clinic's existence unless they were in the know.
"People have nothing to fear,” Mr Craven said.
"If there were genuine concerns, I wouldn't go ahead with it.”
Mr Craven said similar clinics at Southport and Mermaid Beach had not posed any problems for surrounding businesses.
It is understood up to five similar clinics already operate at pharmacies on the southern Gold Coast and Tweed, with few knowing of their existence.
Mr Craven, who has been working in the drug rehabilitation area for 3.5 years, said his only motivation was to help addicts in dire need of support.
"These people are suffering trauma,” Mr Craven said.
"We are here to save lives, to help put people's lives back together, to put families back together.
"This is a very effective program.
"People can go to a pharmacy, but we provide more of an holistic approach to help them recover from addiction.”
Coolangatta Senior Sergeant Meg McArthur said she did not believe the operation would pose a problem.
"These people already live in our area,” Snr Sgt McArthur said.
"If there are any problems, we will deal with it. We will work closely with Stuart, other than the physical location, I'm confident this will be okay.”
Should his application be successful, Mr Craven hopes to open the clinic before year's end, and is expecting to treat up to 100 people per week.
NSW residents will not be able to attend the clinic.
