Pubdate: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 Source: Daily Press (Newport News,VA) Copyright: 2006 The Daily Press Contact: http://www.dailypress.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/585 Author: The Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) ROANOKE METHADONE CLINIC DOESN'T CAUSE PROBLEMS PREDICTED ROANOKE, Va. -- A methadone clinic that opened one year ago to treat western Virginia drug addicts has not brought higher crime to its northwest neighborhood, as residents had feared. Police were called to the Roanoke Treatment Center 34 times last year, but 70 percent of the calls were for burglar alarms set off accidentally by the staff, police spokesman Aisha Johnson said. The rest were for minor incidents such as reports of suspicious activity. A nearby business had 49 police calls. Police calls in the surrounding area were down during the clinic's first year of operation. There were 6,601 calls to the neighborhood last year, down from 6,956 in 2004. Della Millner, who can see the Roanoke Treatment Center from her kitchen window, said she watched anxiously for problems when it opened last January. Now "I don't even know they're up there," Millner told The Roanoke Times. Jim Beatty, who lives down the street from Millner, agreed that the clinic has not lived up to neighbors' worst fears, but he said he remained wary of something he believes was forced on the predominantly black neighborhood. "Hopefully, nothing bad will come of it," he said, "but it's certainly a concern." A lawsuit brought by seven residents seeking to shut down the clinic is still pending in Roanoke Circuit Court. The number of patients has increased gradually to 148, according to clinic director Letitia Malone. Most are from the Roanoke Valley, with a few from as far away as Blacksburg or Covington. Most depend on a daily dose of methadone to curb their addictions to opium-based prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Percocet and Lortab. Methadone, a synthetic narcotic developed during World War II as an alternative to morphine, is also prescribed by physicians as a painkiller. When used to treat drug addiction, the drug is administered over a period of years to patients who also receive counseling and drug tests. About a third of the patients are given take-home doses so they don't have to visit the clinic each day, Malone said. Critics have worried that take-home methadone could show up in Roanoke's drug market, but Johnson said the liquid form of the drug dispensed at the clinic so far has not turned up on the streets. Methadone accounts for the highest number of drug overdoses in western Virginia--69 in 2004, the most recent statistics available from the state medical examiner's office. Authorities have said virtually all the methadone overdoses involve the wafer or pill used as a painkiller. Before the Roanoke methadone clinic opened, addicts had to drive as far as Galax or Charlottesville every day for treatment. As prescription drug abuse in southwest Virginia escalated in recent years, so did the number of methadone clinics. The controversy they generated led the General Assembly to pass a moratorium last year while regulations were revised. It was lifted in December when then-Gov. Mark R. Warner approved the new rules, which require demonstration of a need for drug treatment before new clinics are opened. The state has since received applications for clinics in Winchester and Williamsburg, but not from Scott County, where a proposed clinic was put on hold during the moratorium, said Leslie Anderson of the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman