Pubdate: Sun, 20 Jan 2002
Source: Bristol Press (CT)
Copyright: 2002, The Bristol Press
Contact:  http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1643
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/569
Author: Olivia L. Lawrence

METHADONE NOT A BAD WORD, SOME PATIENTS SAY

BRISTOL -- Addicts who want the help provided through clinical treatment 
can get better, say some clients, declaring they found a lifeline in 
methadone clinic services.

"They help you to stabilize. It's not a wonder cure," said Kathi, a 
Terryville resident using services at a New Britain clinic.

"It played a big part in my ability to maintain a home and my marriage," 
said Daniel, a Bristol client of the New Britain clinic. He is one of about 
six Bristol methadone clients who participated in a focus group run by the 
Hartford Dispensary to determine whether or not services were needed in 
Bristol. The dispensary is about to open a clinic at 1098 Farmington Ave.

The clients did not want to use their last names in order to protect their 
families from any repercussions from their speaking out about their 
experiences.

Kathi lives in Terryville and is raising a young daughter by herself since 
her husband's death. She used heroin on and off for 20 years. On methadone 
treatment for about six years, she is now"on the down side, detoxing" 
herself entirely, she hopes, in the next 30 days.

While she would smoke a little marijuana, her drug of choice was heroin for 
its "enticing high."

Kathi gave birth to her daughter while Kathi was on methadone treatment, 
and she credits the treatment with helping make her child's start a healthy 
one.

Kathi said the typical attitude of a community to news of a methadone 
clinic opening in the vicinity is "they are going to bring all those people 
here."

She believes "you can make drug deals anywhere" and that these are going on 
in a community whether or not there is a clinic.

"Things go on there [in and around a clinic], but people have the 
opportunity to make it work," Kathi said.

Friday, there was an attempted robbery at the New Britain clinic. That 
incident spurred a medical transport driver to call about his view of the 
plans for a Bristol clinic. He has been bringing clients to services for 
many years and did not want to give his name since he works closely with 
the clinics. He is also a property owner in Bristol.

"It's a disaster. It won't work," the driver said. "If everything was so 
wonderful, why have they totally lied and [depicted it] as a typical 
medical place? It is not a good location and it's not adding anything to 
Bristol. I am amazed they are trying to squeeze it into a postage stamp," 
he said of the small parking lot on Farmington Avenue. "I am not happy with 
the way they do their business."

Daniel said a better site could have been found for the facility. He 
described parking as "terrible" and thought other locations might have 
provided clients with more privacy. Also, the site provides no room for 
growth and Daniel believes it won't be too long before the clinic needs to 
find a place where it can expand. Eventually clients from Burlington, 
Farmington, Plainville and Plymouth will be using the Bristol site, he said.

Kathi said the Farmington Avenue facility is a good central location with 
easy access for clients.

If there are problems around clinics, these are likely to come from those 
who do not yet have jobs, Daniel said, promising he'd work to make the 
clinic safer and a good neighbor.

"I'd like to reassure the local residents that I will become a voice -- for 
homeowners and business owners -- to have a stricter policy regarding 
employment and loitering. Bristol is my home also. I want it to be safe and 
hospitable for all residents -- those seeking treatment at a medical 
facility and neighbors to the clinic."

Daniel, 48, is a homeowner and works as a supervisor at a local tool making 
shop. He is married and has four children.

After a car accident about 20 years ago, he got hooked on painkillers to 
ease his back pain. On and off programs, Daniel was clean for five years 
while he was in jail, but relapsed later after 10 months in a halfway 
house. During his using years, he got divorced and lost a home.

Now the services are working for him because "I wanted to get well this time."

"It's not an instant cure," Daniel said, adding that those clients who 
complain are disgruntled and blaming the clinic for their own unwillingness 
to use services to get better.

"It's people who are not dedicated to their recovery who are giving clinics 
a bad name," Daniel said, estimating that roughly 40 percent of clients 
have situations similar to his own.

"It [methadone] kills the desire to use narcotics, but you need to do the 
work on yourself," he said explaining that underlying issues are generally 
responsible for drug use.

Daniel said his counselor spends 20-25 minutes with him during appointments 
and he can call her whenever he needs to. "She will listen to me and has 
structured my recovery program," he said, by getting him involved in anger 
management, stress management and relapse groups.

"Most will go beyond their call to help --but if, after a while, you are 
still messing up -- after that there is no hand holding," Kathi said.

When her husband died, the counselors gave her support in and out of 
treatment. Some nurses attended the wake and her daughter was assisted with 
grief counseling.

"Things are monitored a lot more closely than you think," Kathi said, 
explaining how a lot of clients believe they are getting away with breaking 
the rules, but staff members are highly aware of those activities.

"The policies are not lax," said Daniel, who believes, for instance, it 
would be very difficult to fake a "good" urine sample.

"There's a misconception it's a big party out there," Kathi said, but 
people succumb to their addiction. No one says, 'I want to be a junkie when 
I grow up,'" she added.

"What if there wasn't help out there?" Kathi said, discussing how it has 
taken society a long time to finally recognize the plight of alcoholics, 
battered women and abused children.

"If I thought this was something that would hurt this community, I'd be 
against it," Daniel said, adding, "Bristol needs it and needs to take care 
of their citizens."

He described the prevalence of drug use in Bristol as "a big problem, 
bigger than people think" and said "people from all walks of life" use 
recovery services.

"If they were not allowed treatment, it would be a big loss," he said.

"Articles [in the newspaper] scare people and they don't understand. The 
community is worried about the drug culture, but this should be considered 
a medical facility. They need to give people in treatment a chance. They 
need to be educated on the subject. The community needs to be better 
informed on the treatment process," Daniel said.

Daniel said he has never seen any prostitution, drug deals or other 
criminal activity in the clinic's vicinity when he goes at 6 or 7 a.m.

"The community needs to be reassured it is a medical facility and not a 
place of criminal or drug activity," he said.

"I worked hard the last two years -- on my health, on my family. It's the 
instability that gets you every time. Will they help you? Yes. Will they do 
it for you? No," Kathi said.

Kathi hopes the community will look at recovery services as something which 
can bring people in closer to one another.

"No matter where you live, there is somebody who has some kind of problem. 
Take the time to get information for yourself and give it a chance. Many 
things you think won't work, might," she said.

"Some will have a twice worse opinion after [the clinic opens]," she added. 
"But this is America, we all want the American dream. Change is a very hard 
thing. There's things out there they don't necessarily understand."
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MAP posted-by: Beth