METHADONE CLINIC OPENING

Facility Planned For Martinsburg Third In The State

This fall, a third methadone clinic plans to open its doors in West Virginia.

A certificate of need was issued to Martinsburg Institute Inc. by the West
Virginia Health Care Authority earlier this month.

The company operates four methadone clinics in Maryland. Clinical
supervisor Ellen Valli said more than 80 West Virginians are being served
at a clinic in Frederick, Md.

"Instead of having people coming from West Virginia to us, we'll go to
them," she said.

She said there are a number of good in-patient programs, but only one of
them uses methadone as a tool to curb opiate addictions.

Methadone treatment of opiate addiction has been used for more than 30 years.

It works by the methadone attaching itself to the opiate receptors in the
brain and blocks the centers that make the opiods pleasurable.

Methadone treatment is effective for heroin, opium and oxycodone addictions.

Oxycodone is the active ingredient in the drug OxyContin. It also works for
several other often-abused pills such as Vicodin, Dilaudid, hydromorphone
and morphine.

The Berkley Plaza in Martinsburg is the tentative location for the clinic
and October is the tentative opening date, Valli said.

The health department and other addiction counseling facilities will be
notified of the clinic's opening.

Word of mouth usually carries the news about a methadone clinic opening,
and Valli said she doesn't think the clinic will advertise.

The first methadone clinic in the state was opened just outside the city
limits of Charleston in January.

The Charleston Treatment Center has served "a significant number" of people
since it opened, said Reeve Sams, spokesman for Specialty Clinics, the
company that owns the treatment center.

About 25 percent of those treated were there for heroin addiction and 75
percent were for OxyContin or other prescription pill addictions.

Sams said he had not known about the new clinic but thought it would be
good for West Virginia.

"We understand that is an area that is probably in need of services," he said.

The Charleston Treatment Center has grown beyond what Sams said he expected.

He said the clinic is continuing to accept admissions for the methadone
treatment, which costs users $12 a day for methadone and counseling.

A second methadone clinic, Clarksburg Treatment Center, was issued a
certificate of need by the authority in March.

Six other certificates of need are pending, according to the authority.

Methadone treatment of opiate addiction has sometimes been controversial.

Critics have claimed that methadone treatment isn't treatment at all, but
rather swapping one addiction for another.