Pubdate: Fri, 13 Feb 2004
Source: Roanoke Times (VA)
Copyright: 2004 Roanoke Times
Contact:  http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/368
Author: Laurence Hammack
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

1 METHADONE CLINIC ENOUGH,COMPANY SAYS

The Drug Treatment Center Will Consider Opening Another Clinic If It Finds 
There Is Still A Demand.

A drug treatment company that once considered opening two methadone clinics 
in the Roanoke Valley has settled on a single site on Hershberger Road - at 
least for now.

David Gnass of CRC Healthgroup explained the plan after meeting Thursday 
with residents opposed to the Northwest Roanoke site.

"At this point we're going on the assumption that one clinic is needed," 
Gnass said. "Unless later on after the clinic is open the demand is still 
there, and it looks like the [drug abuse] problem is bigger than we thought 
it was, then we might consider another site.

"But right now it's just not on our radar screen."

CRC is the parent company of the Life Center of Galax, which last year 
proposed a methadone clinic in Southwest Roanoke County. At about the same 
time CRC dropped those plans because of strong neighborhood opposition, the 
California company purchased National Specialty Clinics, which was in the 
process of opening a clinic at 3208 Hershberger Road.

In the days following the purchase, CRC held out the possibility that it 
would follow through on the Hershberger Road clinic while also searching 
for another site in Roanoke County or elsewhere in the region. The 
company's decision to focus on Hershberger Road was not the news residents 
wanted to hear Thursday. Still, both CRC officials and clinic opponents 
were pleased with the progress made at a private meeting held to discuss 
the controversial proposal.

"We agreed more than we disagreed, with the main problem being the location 
of the clinic," said Jeff Artis, a community activist who has been leading 
opposition to an out patient clinic that would treat between 300 and 400 
addicts of opium-based drugs such as heroin and OxyContin.

Artis said he presented Gnass and another CRC representative with petitions 
signed by 2,000 people opposed to the clinic's location. But Artis said he 
and other opponents realize there is a need for methadone treatment in the 
community, and offered several alternative sites.

CRC agreed to consider several options - including vacant buildings in 
downtown Roanoke - but made it clear that it was committed to opening a 
clinic at Hershberger Road in the near future.

However, Gnass said it's possible the company could find another location 
to move to.

The two groups agreed to meet again in early March. Although CRC has 
obtained a business license from the city, it still must complete the 
lengthy process of getting state approval. The earliest the clinic would 
open would be sometime in April, Gnass said.

Thursday's meeting was held at the Garden of Prayer No. 7 Church, which has 
expressed concerns because its planned gymnasium and youth center for 
inner-city teens would be located within a stone's throw of the clinic.

Residents are concerned about crime and drug activity associated with a 
large number of drug addicts coming to the clinic for daily doses of 
methadone, a synthetic narcotic that curbs an opioid addict's cravings and 
wards off withdrawal symptoms.

Gnass said fears of crime are unfounded, and police in other Virginia 
jurisdictions with methadone clinics have confirmed that they receive few 
complaints associated with the facilities.

But problems with existing drug activity and gangs in the area make the 
Hershberger Road site troublesome, Artis said. By the end of the meeting, 
he said, CRC officials seemed to appreciate the level of opposition.

"They're good businessmen," Artis said, "and they know if they open a 
clinic with picket signs and protests and boycotts, that's simply not good 
for business and is going to make a bad situation worse."

Artis said CRC officials seemed surprised to see how many residents have 
signed petitions opposed to the clinic. But he admitted he was surprised by 
a few things he learned - including the fact that Gnass has received 
late-night calls at his Tennessee home in which someone threatened to kill 
him if the clinic was opened.

"We do not condone the death threats and all the other foolishness that the 
CRC people have had to endure," Artis said. "People don't need to cross the 
line like that."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom