Pubdate: Sun, 25 Feb 2001
Pubdate: Sun, 25 Feb 2001
Source: The News-Gazette
Copyright: 2001 The News-Gazette
Address: 15 Main Street, PO Box 677, Champaign, Illinois 61824-0677
Phone: 217-351-5252
Contact:  http://www.news-gazette.com/A clinic in controversy
Author: Jodi Heckel

A CLINIC IN CONTROVERSY

CHAMPAIGN -- Plans by a local not-for-profit organization to open a 
methadone treatment clinic in the downtown area are drawing 
opposition from merchants.

They are worried the clinic will drive away customers, attract drug 
dealers and put those seeking help from other social service agencies 
in the area at even greater risk.

Kendric Speagle, executive director of Harm Reduction Resource, wants 
to open the clinic at 12 E. Washington St., just north of the Orpheum 
Children's Science Museum.

Methadone is a drug used to treat addiction to heroin and other opiates.

Plans for the treatment facility also include a needle exchange.

"Hundreds of people have invested their caring and energy and money 
into building a reputation for the downtown of being a safe, friendly 
place to go, and this clinic is a direct threat to that effort," said 
Andrew Timms, president of Champaign Downtown Association and owner 
of Spectra ART Enterprises on Hill Street. "I just don't believe the 
public, who has better things to do than to look into every detail 
associated with a methadone clinic, will take the time to learn 
whether it's benign or not and will err on the side of caution and 
say it could be hazardous to their well-being.

"I am not saying, because I don't know, that it will necessarily be 
bad, but I think the rest of the community will question whether 
their safety might be at risk because of perceptions regarding it."

But Speagle said Champaign needs such a treatment facility. He said 
about 40 people from the area who are undergoing methadone treatment 
must travel to Decatur or Kankakee on a daily or almost-daily basis 
now. And he said many others who would like to undergo treatment 
can't do so because they don't have transportation or there are 
waiting lists at other clinics.

Harm Reduction Resource is a nonprofit group that already operates a 
syringe exchange for injecting drug users. It also provides 
prevention education to reduce HIV and hepatitis infection among drug 
users and provides referrals to social service agencies.

The methadone clinic would be open from 5:30 to 8:30 a.m. Monday 
through Saturday to accommodate clients who work. Speagle anticipates 
serving about 50 people when the clinic opens and doubling that 
number within a year or so.

Downtown merchants say they are worried the clinic will draw people 
from outside Champaign County, especially those trying to hide 
addictions from those in their hometowns. They also worry that crime 
will increase from people stealing to support their addictions.

Speagle said he expects clients to be primarily from Champaign 
County. He said methadone treatment helps addicts stop using heroin 
and other drugs, and as a result, it will decrease the criminal 
activity that supports their addictions and help them become 
productive members of the community. He said it will also lower 
health care costs by decreasing the number of drug users who contract 
HIV, hepatitis or infections related to their drug use.

Speagle acknowledged the negative perceptions associated with 
methadone clinics, but he said, "It is a legitimate medical treatment 
that is analogous to insulin therapy for insulin-dependent diabetics."

But business owners are even more worried about the prospect of a 
needle exchange than they are the methadone clinic.

"When you have a place like this where addicts come for free needles 
... you have people that prey on addicts," said David Meyer, owner of 
Meyer Drapery Services on Neil Street, just south of the Orpheum 
museum. "If you are a heroin dealer, what better place to stake out 
than a place that gives needles to heroin addicts?"

"I am more concerned about the needle exchange because we're looking 
at an active drug population who are using drugs now. That's why they 
need needles," said Dawn Blackman, owner of Motherlands, a boutique 
and cultural center with an after-school program on Church Street. 
"How can you mix recovering addicts and active addicts? That's a 
recipe for disaster."

Speagle doesn't believe the clinic will attract drug dealers.

"They don't need to drum up business. They've got more than enough 
business," he said. "They have no interest in going to a methadone 
clinic to solicit customers. They are not willing to risk 
compromising their business at the prospect of increasing their 
customer volume," if it increases the chances they will get caught.

Harm Reduction Resource now operates its syringe exchange on demand 
in Champaign-Urbana. A client calls, and someone meets him or her 
with a clean needle. Speagle said he is not sure yet whether the 
syringe exchange will continue to operate the same way, or whether 
some exchanges will take place at the Washington Street clinic.

But he says if they do, they won't likely take place during early 
morning hours, so the chance that those on methadone treatment and 
those who are current drug users will mix is negligible.

Timms, Meyer and Blackman noted that the downtown area has many 
social service programs already, including the TIMES Center men's 
shelter, the Mental Health Center and Prairie Center, which offers 
substance abuse treatment.

"There's a lot of things that are made with very good intentions," 
Meyer said. "But when we keep putting these social facilities in one 
concentrated neighborhood, it puts the neighborhood at risk. If you 
put known substance abusers of alcohol and drugs and have a package 
liquor store down the street (referring to O'Aces Tavern), and 50 
yards away from it you have a place handing out needles to heroin 
users, it's not the best place for at-risk individuals, and someplace 
where retail people feel less safe and less comfortable.

"We're putting at-risk individuals in a concentrated area, and we're 
putting them right on top of ... the kind of elements we're trying to 
keep them away from."

But Speagle said locating a methadone clinic nearby will help addicts 
who want treatment.

"Because there are so many social services located in such close 
proximity, it is advantageous to offer a service that specifically 
targets injecting drug users and addicts," he said. "We're not 
placing pressure on a person already strained. We're providing a 
recourse."

Speagle must get approval from the U.S. Department of Health and 
Human Services, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the state Office of 
Alcohol and Substance Abuse to open the clinic. He said he has 
started the application process, and if he gets approval, he expects 
to open the clinic in late summer.

Timms said Champaign Downtown Association board members are planning 
to do more research on methadone treatment clinics and talk to social 
service providers.

"The general perception is, we know it can't have any pluses for the 
downtown," Timms said. "It's just determining whether it will be 
neutral or bad."

"I can see that the complexion today has disintegrated from what it 
was two years ago," Meyer said of downtown. "In the last dozen years 
or so, downtown has made so many improvements, both in aesthetics and 
public perception. We've been so painstakingly going forward, and I'd 
hate to see all the work of so many people backslide. I think if we 
keep taking these institutions and putting them in a concentrated 
area, we're going to backslide. I think it's already happened."
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