Pubdate: Sat, 08 Jan 2005
Source: Telegraph (NH)
Copyright: 2005 Telegraph Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.nashuatelegraph.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/885
Author: Andrew Nelson, Telegraph Staff

COMPANY SEEKS TO OPEN METHADONE CLINIC

NASHUA - The city's Zoning Board of Adjustment will decide whether a 
Florida-based company can open a clinic here to treat people addicted to 
heroin and prescription drugs.

Colonial Management Group is seeking to open the outpatient methadone 
clinic in the former state Department of Employment Security office on Pine 
Street, a few blocks from downtown.

The company has clinics in 17 states, including one in Manchester.

The James N. and Shirley C. Tamposi Revocable Trust owns 33 Pine St. The 
owners applied for a change-of-use variance from the zoning board to open a 
medical facility.

The board will consider the issue at its meeting Tuesday night, which 
starts at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall.

The facility would not be for walk-up patients, said Gerald Prunier, the 
attorney representing the landowner. Clinic staff would see patients after 
a reference for treatment from a primary care doctor, he said.

There are three methadone clinics operating in the state, including 
Merrimack River Medical Services in Hudson, according to Greg Moore, a 
spokesman for the state Health and Human Services Department. Southern New 
Hampshire Medical Center also operates a methadone program specifically for 
pregnant women, in partnership with the Nashua Area Health Center and 
Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinic.

A proposed methadone clinic in Lebanon has come under attack from nearby 
businesses after officials there granted a zoning permit to the facility 
last year.

The Nashua zoning application states the clinic would benefit the community 
by providing a service "which is in demand."

Prunier said that referred to an overall demand for medical services in the 
community. He said he did not have figures on how many people would be 
treated at the clinic.

City leaders learned that the proposal was for a methadone clinic in the 
middle of the week, as the zoning application referred to the facility only 
in general terms.

Neighborhood opposition to the idea is expected.

Ward 4 Alderman Marc Plamondon said his ward is the wrong location for such 
a clinic.

"Ward 4 has historically welcomed social organizations and still does. But 
enough is enough," he said.

Plamondon said he came up with an acronym as a response to complaints he 
expects to hear that the neighborhood has a "Not In My Back Yard" attitude: 
ONIF, or "Our Neighborhood Is Full."

Plamondon said he appreciates the work done by methadone clinics and 
recently sought a job at the Hudson clinic, but it would be a bad fit for a 
neighborhood already struggling with the highest crime rate in the city.

The clinic would detract from the area, he said, adding that it could be 
located west of the F.E. Everett Turnpike.

Paul Etkind, deputy director/epidemiologist for the city's Public Health 
Department, said injection-related drug use, most commonly heroin, is on 
the rise in the community.

The problem in Nashua is not getting better, considering the number of 
drug-related arrests, the number of hepatitis C reports, and 
self-identified intravenous drug users in hospitals, he said.

In 2004, 102 emergency room patients from Nashua identified themselves as 
IV drug users, up from 44 patients in 1998, he said.

"It's a front-burner public health issue in the area," he said.

The proposed clinic would be a 7,700-square-foot building located in a 
general industrial/mixed use zone.

Carter Falk, the deputy planning/zoning administrator, said a medical 
facility is not permitted in a general industrial zone. The zoning 
application refers to the facility as an "office treatment center."

However, the zoning board would not consider the type of medical treatment 
to be offered, whether it is nurses administering methadone or offering 
treatment for cystic fibrosis, Falk said.

Methadone is a drug used to treat people who are addicted to heroin and 
other opiates, without creating a high for addicts.

State regulators review these types of clinics based on two areas, 
according to Moore. Methadone clinics are inspected and reviewed for their 
blood collection systems. The state Board of Pharmacy also has oversight 
because the clinics distribute controlled substances.

Colonial Management Group has 48 outpatient clinics across the country that 
see 13,000 patients daily, according to information the company provided to 
zoning officials.

The organization operates clinics for people addicted to Oxycontin, heroin, 
and other opiate drugs. It uses individual, group, and family counseling to 
help people recover from the addiction.

The zoning application states that eight to 10 employees would work at the 
clinic. Also, each clinic hires a local doctor and a local pharmacist, 
according to the company.

Representatives of the company did not return phone calls Friday.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman