Pubdate: Thu, 08 Jan 2004
Source: Herald, The (WA)
Copyright: 2004 The Daily Herald Co.
Contact:  http://www.heraldnet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/190
Author: David Olson, Herald Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

METHADONE CLINIC KEPT ON HOLD

EVERETT -- The city's first methadone clinic is now expected to open at the 
end of the month, an official with the federal Drug Enforcement 
Administration said Wednesday.

Therapeutic Health Services had planned to open the clinic at 9930 
Evergreen Way in December, but the DEA still hadn't given its approval.

The agency's blessing is the last step before the clinic can open. The 
agency checks to make sure such clinics have proper security to prevent 
theft of the medication. Therapeutic Health Services already has received 
state permits.

"I just don't know why they're dragging their feet," said Norman Johnson, 
executive director of Therapeutic Health Services. "There are 100 people 
who, at the moment the DEA stops dragging their feet, I can take off the 
street and put into treatment."

Two DEA investigators inspected the clinic on Dec. 22, but Johnson said a 
local DEA official told him Wednesday that they still hadn't completed 
their report. DEA officials in Washington, D.C., will then review the 
report and make a decision.

The new clinic will open within 48 hours of receiving DEA approval, Johnson 
said.

"Everything is ready to go in Everett," he added.

Thomas O'Brien, a spokesman for the DEA's Seattle field office, said the 
agency is following its normal procedures, but has been busier than usual 
the past few weeks.

"I don't know of any problems with the application," O'Brien said.

Methadone is used to treat people addicted to opiate drugs, including 
heroin and the painkiller OxyContin.

The 7,500-square-foot clinic will initially serve 100 people from Snohomish 
County and is expected to reach its maximum capacity of 350 patients within 
a few months, Johnson said.

Almost all of those first 100 patients currently use the group's Shoreline 
clinic. The rest get their methadone in Seattle. The opening of the Everett 
clinic will free up 100 spaces at the Shoreline and Seattle clinics for 
clients from King County, Johnson said.

About 300 people are on waiting lists for the Shoreline and Seattle 
clinics, and some have been calling Therapeutic Health Services regularly 
to find out when they can start treatment, he said.

"They want treatment so much that they've been consistently calling to see 
if the Everett clinic is open," Johnson said.

Therapeutic Health Services had hoped to open a clinic in downtown Everett 
a year ago. But the City Council objected to the downtown site and 
restricted new drug-treatment centers in the city to two commercial areas 
south of Highway 526, the Boeing freeway.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom