PROPOSED METHADONE CLINIC SITE MOVES, BUT NOT OUT OF CHAMPAIGN-URBANA

Some local officials speculate that a methadone clinic to treat heroin
addicts will not be located at 12 E. Washington St. as originally planned,
because of problems with the design of the treatment program.

Harm Reduction Resource Executive Director Kendric Speagle, senior in LAS,
said the lease was canceled because of financial and administrative
conflicts between Harm Reduction Resource and building owner Leon Jeske.

Though Speagle, the main force behind the creation of the methadone clinic,
has not found a new site for the clinic, he remains confident that it is
only a matter of time before the treatment center becomes a reality.

"We're still attempting to determine which location is best within
Champaign," Speagle said. "We need an affordable place with the proper
zoning and we need to find a landlord (agreeable) to what we're doing,
which is quite a feat."

The initial location on Washington Street stirred controversy because it
was across the street from the Orpheum Children's Museum and in the center
of downtown Champaign.

Amy Crump, a member of the Sesquicentennial Neighborhood Association that
opposed the site, lives three blocks from the Washington Street location.

"I'm happy that the location has been changed," Crump said.
"Representatives from the neighborhood bordering downtown have been working
for 10 years to improve the neighborhood."

Despite her reservations concerning the clinic's location, Crump said she
thinks there might be a need for a treatment center somewhere else in
Champaign.

"It has appeared that Mr. Speagle has demonstrated that there may be a need
for a methadone clinic in this community," Crump said. "But I do not
believe that Mr. Speagle is qualified to head such a clinic."

Speagle emphasized that he has researched methadone treatment
"voraciously," visited methadone clinics throughout the state, and been
through extensive training. He would serve in a solely administrative
position at the proposed clinic.

He estimates that anywhere from 500 to 1,000 area residents are heroin
users and that 40 to 60 Champaign County residents currently travel to
Kankakee or Decatur to receive the prescription drug. Methadone is taken
orally and eliminates the physical craving for heroin and withdrawal
symptoms allowing heroin addicts to function day to day, Speagle said.

Though Speagle is confident the clinic will be a success, Kathy Ennen,
Champaign City councilwoman at large, disagrees.

"Based on the information I've been given, I believe that there is a need
for a methadone clinic," Ennen said. "But many people have reacted to Mr.
Speagle's lack of expertise. He has no qualifications, no training and he's
still an undergraduate student at the University.

"It would be like me going out and telling one of the farmers in town that
I was taking over his farm, except with this, people's lives are involved,"
she said.

Ennen would like to see a methadone clinic made a part of a preexisting
local drug treatment organization such as the Champaign Urbana Public
Health District.

The Public Health District is studying the effects of a possible methadone
clinic in Champaign to determine how much of a part the district should
play in the creation of the clinic, said Public Health District Executive
Director David King.

"We may offer our services to get the clinic established somewhere else,
use our own nursing staff for the clinic or use our staff to help plan and
organize for the clinic depending on how important the board believes this
is," King said.

Though a decision hasn't been made, Julie Pryde, director of social
services for the Public Health District said she wants to see a methadone
clinic in Champaign and that Kendric is a competent and capable leader for
the project.

"I've worked with Kendric now for over a year and found him to be
organized, extremely intelligent and driven," Pryde said. "I can't think of
anyone else I'd rather work with on this. He brought methadone treatment to
the attention of the community which is something that should have been
done years ago."

Despite her confidence in Speagle, Pryde expects more opposition when a new
location for the clinic is found.

"No matter what location we pick, I think we're going to run into the same
problems," Pryde said. "That's what you get when you open a service like
this, but heroin use is still fueling AIDS and hepatitis. This is a public
health crisis."