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.
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