Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 2004
Source: Bristol Herald Courier (VA)
Copyright: 2004 Bristol Herald Courier
Contact: http://www.bristolnews.com/contact.html
Website: http://www.bristolnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1211
Author: Chris Dumond
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

METHADONE ONLY WAY SHE CAN LEAD NORMAL LIFE

BRISTOL, Va. - Almost a decade ago, Melissa Leonard was in a car wreck so 
severe she died three times in the hospital.

The crash broke her lower legs, a thigh bone, both feet and her hip and 
ruptured her spleen.

The fight to survive and recover was brutal. But another fight that lay 
ahead of her was almost as unexpected and as wicked as the wreck that 
nearly took her life.

At age 15 and after nine months of taking narcotic painkillers, Melissa was 
discharged from the hospital a drug addict.

Now, at 24, she says methadone is the only way she can live a normal life.

"I'd rather take the methadone," she said. "I'm not doing something 
illegal, and it's keeping my life stable."

Leonard is on the other side of a debate over whether and where methadone 
clinics should be allowed to set up shop.

Washington County recently denied a request to allow a clinic to open in a 
house on Old Dominion Road in the Lowry Hills area, just five minutes from 
Leonard's home. Lowry Hills residents launched a campaign to keep the 
clinic out of the neighborhood.

Methadone clinics treat addicts by swapping their drug of choice for 
controlled doses of synthetic methadone. The philosophy is that for $10 a 
day, addicts can curb withdrawal symptoms instead of committing crimes and 
engaging in risky lifestyles often associated with narcotics abuse.

County Administrator Mark Reeter turned down the clinic's request. In two 
weeks, the Board of Supervisors is set to consider a zoning law that would 
greatly restrict the ability of clinic operators to locate anywhere in 
Washington County.

The only other option for those looking to wean themselves off narcotics 
using methadone is traveling to another clinic.

The nearest ones are in Boone, N.C. and Tazewell, both more than an hour 
away. Another is in Galax, nearly two hours away.

Leonard said the drive time limits her ability to go to school or hold a 
full-time job. Driving long distances while dealing with the sickness of 
withdrawal has proven to be a dangerous combination.

"I've totaled three cars driving to Galax," Leonard said.

Going cold turkey is not an option, she said. She has completed two 
separate methadone programs, only to relapse.

She said contending with chronic pain in her legs, which keeps her from 
walking at all some days, and the sickness of withdrawal can be too much.

"It's like the flu - really bad," Leonard said. "You get sick, nauseated, 
there's diarrhea and cold and hot flashes. You feel like you want to die."

With methadone, she doesn't crave drugs, and the treatment helps with her 
pain. She said counseling, which she gets at least three times a week, 
sometimes for as long as an hour, also helps.

She said she'd like to stop using methadone at some point but is too scared 
of relapsing to quit right now.

She and her mother, Pat Leonard, said they were disappointed in the 
county's decision to deny the methadone clinic's request.

Pat Leonard said she understands the fears of Lowry Hills residents and the 
county's concern about the clinic's proximity to John S. Battle High School 
but said some of those feelings may not be rational.

"There's students at John S. Battle High School that need to be in that 
methadone clinic," she said. "And some of these people who are against the 
clinic need to look at their neighbors."

Her daughter was an addict while attending Battle, and she said she can't 
count on both hands the number of people she knows in the community who 
need help.

They're not all stereotypical drug addicts, either, she said. They're the 
kind of people she sees driving Cadillacs and BMWs.

Pat Leonard said the debate has been one-sided against the clinic because 
of the stigma drug abusers carry. She said most people in favor of the 
clinic aren't willing to expose themselves to ridicule.

She said the result is that people who can't afford to travel more than an 
hour to a clinic continue to abuse drugs. They continue to steal to get 
money for their fixes and continue to engage in unhealthy behavior.

A methadone clinic, she said, would reduce drug-related crimes and the 
burden on society of treating the byproducts of drug abuse such as high 
unemployment, poverty and disease.

Ignoring the problem in an area well-documented to be a hot spot in the 
country's war against prescription drug abuse, she said, would only 
compound the problem.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom