Pubdate: Sun, 25 Jun 2006
Source: Times, The  (Munster IN)
Copyright: 2006 The Munster Times
Contact:  http://www.nwitimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/832
Author:  Patrick Guinane And Lauri Harvey Keagle
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

OFFICIALS, ADDICTS SPLIT ON METHADONE CLINIC

HEROIN: Politicians say facility is needed, but former users say 
clinic could cause more harm than good.

The way state Rep. Ralph Ayres sees it, opening a heroin treatment 
center somewhere in Porter County is the next logical step in 
confronting a problem the community came to grips with nearly two years ago.

First, officials had to realize that heroin abuse had become a 
problem here, away from the big city and urban drug trade. State data 
from 2003 show 179 recovering heroin addicts from Porter County 
traveling to one of four clinics in Gary for almost daily doses of methadone.

Proponents of a Porter County clinic suggest the number of recovering 
addicts has grown, and that the trek puts too great a strain on 
patients and family members who must shuttle them.

In late 2004, the education campaign began, followed by prevention efforts.

Now, Ayres says, it is time to look at treatment.

"If you can't prevent it, and someone is an addict -- if there's no 
treatment -- it's the death penalty, basically," he said.

Ayres, a Chesterton Republican, was the driving force behind a new 
state law that, for Porter and 15 other counties, lifted a moratorium 
on new methadone clinics.

The legislation was far from controversial in Indianapolis, where it 
sprung from the House 93-0, won a 49-1 vote in the Senate and was 
signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels just four days after hitting his desk.

But methadone -- a controlled substance that experts say soothes 
narcotic cravings without mimicking heroin's euphoric high -- carries 
an unsavory connotation.

Dave -- a recovering addict who started by abusing methadone and 
graduated to heroin -- disagrees with those experts. He is adamant 
that a methadone clinic for Porter County is not the answer.

"The stuff is harder to get off of than heroin," Dave said. "They say 
methadone doesn't get you high, and that's a lie."

The 23-year-old Valparaiso resident asked that his last name not be 
used, in order to protect his father, whose business he believes 
could be hurt if people knew about his recent past.

Dave started his downward spiral into addiction by buying methadone 
from a friend who was getting it from a clinic. Once he was hooked on 
methadone, he needed a stronger high and turned to heroin.

He believes the clinics perpetuate the drug problem by creating a 
meeting place for users.

"I found my new dope spot at the clinic," Dave said.

Like Dave, Sam's methadone addiction led to heroin use not once, but 
also a second time, after he was off parole for an armed robbery he 
committed to get money to support his drug habit.

Sam, a 30-year-old recovering addict from Chesterton who also asked 
that his last name not be used, believes methadone doesn't get to the 
heart of the addiction problem.

"Just because I put heroin down, I'm still an addict, a thief, a 
womanizer, whatever," Sam said.

"You have to get at why you're an addict, and methadone just keeps 
you an addict."

Robin Schulte, a nurse who serves as program director at Discovery 
House, one of Gary's four methadone clinics, said the trade-off isn't 
a bad one.

"If you have a patient who is never going to submit to recovery, it's 
a matter of harm reduction," Schulte said.

State applications to run the Porter County methadone clinic are due 
in November, and it will be early 2007 before the state approves any 
new heroin treatment centers. But the prospects for one landing in 
Porter County could become clear months sooner.

Many consider Porter-Starke Services Inc. to have a early edge 
because the nonprofit mental health and addiction treatment agency 
already has a community presence.

The agency plans to use treatments other than methadone and also has 
promised to provide recovering heroin addicts with a full spectrum of 
mental health and counseling services -- rather than open the 
turnstile for users that some opponents might expect.

Carmen Arlt, director of chemical dependency and addiction for 
Porter-Starke Services, said 30-year-old Porter-Starke has been 
treating heroin addicts for years.

"The clients are already here, so let's treat them," Arlt said. "Why 
stigmatize this condition? Some people demonize it."

The state has made it clear that applicants first must secure 
community support.

"I haven't heard any big surge of public outcry against it," said 
state Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes.

"I've heard a few comments, but I haven't heard anything really big, 
and I don't think we're going to get any big opposition, unless we 
try to site it in the middle of some residential neighborhood."

Dave said the opposition is out there, it just isn't organized.

"The mayor (of Valparaiso) wants to make an educated decision, but 
it's going to be based on flawed information," Dave said.

"If you put 100 recovering addicts that have been in methadone 
clinics in a room, every one of them will say, 'No way. Don't do it.'"

- -- Times Staff Writer Christine Kraly contributed to this report
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman