Pubdate: Fri, 23 Feb 2007
Source: Times-Journal, The (Fort Payne, AL)
Copyright: 2007 Times-Journal
Contact:  http://www.times-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1883
Author: Greg Purvis
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

OFFICIALS: MOVE METHADONE CLINIC

Fort Payne Mayor Bill Jordan said he didn't want them in town. 
Members of a local church congregation said they didn't want them as 
neighbors. Police Chief David Walker says all he has heard about them 
is negative. And Sen. Lowell Barron said he didn't want them anywhere 
in northeast Alabama. But Fort Payne may be getting a methadone 
clinic, like it or not.

"It seems pretty certain that the state is going to let this go 
through no matter what the citizens of Fort Payne have to say about 
it," said Jordan.

The state board met on Wednesday to review this fourth proposed site. 
Jordan, O'Dell, Barron and members of local law enforcement and the 
drug court attended to voice their opposition.

"It was obvious that the local community does not want this clinic in 
their community," said SHPDA Deputy Director Jim Sanders.

Sanders said the vote had been tabled, and the board had asked the 
clinic management and community leaders to try to reach some compromise.

"[Dr. Swaid N. Swaid, chairman of the CON board] went further by 
ordering us to find an unincorporated location in DeKalb County," 
said O'Dell. "I suppose he ordered this to keep other cities and 
towns within the county from having to wage the same fight Fort Payne 
has been embroiled in."

But county officials don't seem to be any more interested in the 
clinic than the city is.

"I'll do whatever I can to fight it," said DeKalb County Commissioner 
Brant Craig. "It's not something we need, anywhere in the county."

The State Health Planning and Development Agency approved a 
certificate of need for Holland & Heatherly Inc., a company that 
operates a methadone clinic in Cullman, in February 2006. The 
company, armed with the certification stating, in effect, that the 
state recognized a need for a drug treatment program in DeKalb County 
for patients addicted to opiates, made plans to open a similar clinic 
in Fort Payne.

"Those of us who have been battling the drug problems in DeKalb 
County for the last 26 years strongly believe that there is no need 
for a methadone clinic in our county," said DeKalb District Attorney 
Mike O'Dell.

O'Dell said law enforcement figures and court-sanctioned drug program 
records indicate there is no appreciable opiate drug problem in DeKalb.

Methadone is a synthetic opiate that is used to treat withdrawal 
symptoms from addiction to other opiates such as heroin, morphine, 
hydrocodone and OxyContin.

"We have a crystal meth problem here, not an opiate problem," said 
Barron, D-Fyffe.

Barron helped lead a protest over the methadone clinic last year 
after Holland & Heatherly indicated they planned to locate the clinic 
less than 50 feet from a church-sponsored playground near Minvale 
Baptist Church in Fort Payne.

"We believe such a clinic will exacerbate an already difficult battle 
we are waging throughout our county," O'Dell said. "It will introduce 
into our community another controlled substance that is fast becoming 
a popular drug of choice on the street.

Brenda Heatherly, the executive director of the Cullman clinic, disagrees.

"[Opiate addiction] is a fast-growing problem, everywhere," she said. 
"The Sand Mountain Recovery Center is committed to treating patients 
who have addiction problems."

Methadone is controversial to some because it can be used to maintain 
addicts indefinitely by switching them from an addiction to 
prescription pain pills to methadone, a synthetic opiate with a long duration.

Methadone proponents argue that the drug blocks the effects of other 
opiates and allows addicts to lead normal, productive lives.

"Our [patients] come early in the morning, get their medication, and 
then they leave, because most of them work, they are productive 
members of society," Heatherly said.

O'Dell and Barron both agree that they don't want to see a methadone 
clinic anywhere in Alabama. They say taking methadone prevents 
addicts from becoming drug-free.

"We are adamant that introducing readily-accessible methadone to our 
community would be very damaging to our drug enforcement efforts," 
Barron said. "Particularly our efforts to get addicts off of 
drugs--not just substitute another highly addictive substance for the 
poison they may be taking."

On Aug. 18, 2006 Barron announced that the certificate of need board 
had rescinded its approval for the clinic's second proposed site, at 
110 20th Street NW in Fort Payne. SHPDB Executive Director Alva 
Lambert attended a meeting later that month in Fort Payne to listen 
to the community's concerns.

After a third site proposal failed to get off the ground, the clinic 
was given a one-year extension to find a suitable location. On Feb. 
15, the clinic informed the board it may have found a new location at 
the former site of Scooters, a former Fort Payne restaurant.  
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman