A CLINIC IN CONTROVERSY

CHAMPAIGN -- Plans by a local not-for-profit organization to open a
methadone treatment clinic in the downtown area are drawing
opposition from merchants.

They are worried the clinic will drive away customers, attract drug
dealers and put those seeking help from other social service agencies
in the area at even greater risk.

Kendric Speagle, executive director of Harm Reduction Resource, wants
to open the clinic at 12 E. Washington St., just north of the Orpheum
Children's Science Museum.

Methadone is a drug used to treat addiction to heroin and other opiates.

Plans for the treatment facility also include a needle exchange.

"Hundreds of people have invested their caring and energy and money
into building a reputation for the downtown of being a safe, friendly
place to go, and this clinic is a direct threat to that effort," said
Andrew Timms, president of Champaign Downtown Association and owner
of Spectra ART Enterprises on Hill Street. "I just don't believe the
public, who has better things to do than to look into every detail
associated with a methadone clinic, will take the time to learn
whether it's benign or not and will err on the side of caution and
say it could be hazardous to their well-being.

"I am not saying, because I don't know, that it will necessarily be
bad, but I think the rest of the community will question whether
their safety might be at risk because of perceptions regarding it."

But Speagle said Champaign needs such a treatment facility. He said
about 40 people from the area who are undergoing methadone treatment
must travel to Decatur or Kankakee on a daily or almost-daily basis
now. And he said many others who would like to undergo treatment
can't do so because they don't have transportation or there are
waiting lists at other clinics.

Harm Reduction Resource is a nonprofit group that already operates a
syringe exchange for injecting drug users. It also provides
prevention education to reduce HIV and hepatitis infection among drug
users and provides referrals to social service agencies.

The methadone clinic would be open from 5:30 to 8:30 a.m. Monday
through Saturday to accommodate clients who work. Speagle anticipates
serving about 50 people when the clinic opens and doubling that
number within a year or so.

Downtown merchants say they are worried the clinic will draw people
from outside Champaign County, especially those trying to hide
addictions from those in their hometowns. They also worry that crime
will increase from people stealing to support their addictions.

Speagle said he expects clients to be primarily from Champaign
County. He said methadone treatment helps addicts stop using heroin
and other drugs, and as a result, it will decrease the criminal
activity that supports their addictions and help them become
productive members of the community. He said it will also lower
health care costs by decreasing the number of drug users who contract
HIV, hepatitis or infections related to their drug use.

Speagle acknowledged the negative perceptions associated with
methadone clinics, but he said, "It is a legitimate medical treatment
that is analogous to insulin therapy for insulin-dependent diabetics."

But business owners are even more worried about the prospect of a
needle exchange than they are the methadone clinic.

"When you have a place like this where addicts come for free needles
... you have people that prey on addicts," said David Meyer, owner of
Meyer Drapery Services on Neil Street, just south of the Orpheum
museum. "If you are a heroin dealer, what better place to stake out
than a place that gives needles to heroin addicts?"

"I am more concerned about the needle exchange because we're looking
at an active drug population who are using drugs now. That's why they
need needles," said Dawn Blackman, owner of Motherlands, a boutique
and cultural center with an after-school program on Church Street.
"How can you mix recovering addicts and active addicts? That's a
recipe for disaster."

Speagle doesn't believe the clinic will attract drug dealers.

"They don't need to drum up business. They've got more than enough
business," he said. "They have no interest in going to a methadone
clinic to solicit customers. They are not willing to risk
compromising their business at the prospect of increasing their
customer volume," if it increases the chances they will get caught.

Harm Reduction Resource now operates its syringe exchange on demand
in Champaign-Urbana. A client calls, and someone meets him or her
with a clean needle. Speagle said he is not sure yet whether the
syringe exchange will continue to operate the same way, or whether
some exchanges will take place at the Washington Street clinic.

But he says if they do, they won't likely take place during early
morning hours, so the chance that those on methadone treatment and
those who are current drug users will mix is negligible.

Timms, Meyer and Blackman noted that the downtown area has many
social service programs already, including the TIMES Center men's
shelter, the Mental Health Center and Prairie Center, which offers
substance abuse treatment.

"There's a lot of things that are made with very good intentions,"
Meyer said. "But when we keep putting these social facilities in one
concentrated neighborhood, it puts the neighborhood at risk. If you
put known substance abusers of alcohol and drugs and have a package
liquor store down the street (referring to O'Aces Tavern), and 50
yards away from it you have a place handing out needles to heroin
users, it's not the best place for at-risk individuals, and someplace
where retail people feel less safe and less comfortable.

"We're putting at-risk individuals in a concentrated area, and we're
putting them right on top of ... the kind of elements we're trying to
keep them away from."

But Speagle said locating a methadone clinic nearby will help addicts
who want treatment.

"Because there are so many social services located in such close
proximity, it is advantageous to offer a service that specifically
targets injecting drug users and addicts," he said. "We're not
placing pressure on a person already strained. We're providing a
recourse."

Speagle must get approval from the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the state Office of
Alcohol and Substance Abuse to open the clinic. He said he has
started the application process, and if he gets approval, he expects
to open the clinic in late summer.

Timms said Champaign Downtown Association board members are planning
to do more research on methadone treatment clinics and talk to social
service providers.

"The general perception is, we know it can't have any pluses for the
downtown," Timms said. "It's just determining whether it will be
neutral or bad."

"I can see that the complexion today has disintegrated from what it
was two years ago," Meyer said of downtown. "In the last dozen years
or so, downtown has made so many improvements, both in aesthetics and
public perception. We've been so painstakingly going forward, and I'd
hate to see all the work of so many people backslide. I think if we
keep taking these institutions and putting them in a concentrated
area, we're going to backslide. I think it's already happened."