Pubdate: Tue, 23 Sep 2003
Source: Roanoke Times (VA)
Copyright: 2003 Roanoke Times
Contact:  http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/368
Author: Laurence Hammack
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

RESIDENTS RAIL AT CLINIC

Proposed Methadone Clinic Draws 200 Roanoke County Opponents

Officials Of The Life Center Said The Methadone Clinic Would Not Bring Crime
And Drug Dealing To The Neighborhood.

About 200 people, some merely worried and others downright angry, packed a
community meeting Monday night to oppose plans for a methadone clinic in
Southwest Roanoke County.

Converting a former doctor's office at Colonial Avenue and Ogden Road into a
drug treatment center will invite crime and drug activity into the
neighborhood, one speaker after another told an audience that produced no
voices in support of the clinic.

"The first time my child is exposed in any way to a drug dealer or addict,
you're going to get a predictable response, and it's not going to be rational,"
Allen Trigger said. "And I think I speak on behalf of a lot of other parents."

"You sure do," a man shouted from the back row as the room erupted in applause.

County officials organized the meeting two weeks after a private drug
rehabilitation center, the Life Center of Galax, announced plans to open a
satellite methadone clinic that will provide treatment for people addicted to
opium-based drugs such as OxyContin and heroin.

While County Administrator Elmer Hodge and Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix told the
crowd that they believe the residential area is not a good site for the clinic,
there may be little the county can do to stop the Life Center.

The Board of Supervisors did not realize in 1989, when they rezoned the site to
allow Dr. William Ball to open a family medical clinic, that the change would
ultimately allow a methadone clinic to operate out of the building.

When the board meets today, it will discuss changing the county's zoning
ordinance to require medical clinics, including those that dispense methadone,
to obtain a special use permit. But it's questionable that such a change could
be applied retroactively to a use that is allowed under current law.

Should the matter wind up in court, judges "look with great disfavor at
governments changing the rules in the middle of the game," County Attorney Paul
Mahoney said.

Although traffic congestion and decreased property values were cited by
opponents, the overriding concern Monday night was the influx of drug addicts
and dealers into a middle-class neighborhood that has been largely insulated
from such problems.

"The dealers, they're going to follow the addicts. It's that simple," said
Carlton Graham, a recovering heroin addict who told of his own failed
experiences with methadone.

Officials with the Life Center declined an invitation to attend Monday's
meeting, saying it might prove too adversarial.

But in a written statement, the center said there is no basis for fears that a
methadone clinic would bring crime and drug dealing to the neighborhood.

At the Galax facility, people committed to getting off drugs have been quietly
receiving methadone with no negative effect on the surrounding neighborhood,
which includes homes, an elementary and high school, and a public library, the
center said.

"When individuals attend our clinics for treatment, they present no additional
risk to the community than they would if they were shopping or working, or
eating in a restaurant," the statement said.

Galax police have confirmed that the clinic creates few problems, although some
other localities with methadone clinics have less favorable reports.

The Life Center suggested a task force composed of its staff members, community
residents and county officials. The panel, which would field concerns during
the clinic's opening and early operations, would be "more objective and less
adversarial than open community meetings have proven to be," the Life Center
said in its statement.

Minnix made a similar suggestion Monday, although it was not clear how well the
two proposals will be merged.

There is no planned opening date for the clinic, as it must first pass a number
of licensing requirements and inspections by state and federal agencies that
include the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Virginia Board of Pharmacy and
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The clinic would initially treat about 70 patients - about the number of
Roanoke Valley residents who currently drive to the Life Center's methadone
clinics in Galax and Tazewell County - with about half of them coming to the
clinic each day. Eventually, the clinic is expected to have between 200 and 300
patients.
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