SHELBY METHADONE CLINIC GETS APPROVAL

State health officials Wednesday approved a proposal to open the first
methadone clinic in Shelby County.

Despite the objections of county leaders, the state Certificate of Need
Board during a hearing in Montgomery granted applicants permission to
establish the clinic.

Applicants Susan Staats-Sidwell and Dr. Glenn Archibald plan to open the
clinic at an undetermined site in Calera, though the board's approval
applies anywhere in Shelby County. Staats-Sidwell is executive director of
Northwest Alabama Treatment Center, a methadone clinic in Bessemer;
Archibald is a psychiatrist.

"We're going to take this very seriously and make Shelby County proud to
have us here," Staats-Sidwell said.

She said the clinic would serve Shelby County addicts who otherwise have to
drive daily to clinics in Bessemer, Homewood, Roebuck or at the University
of Alabama at Birmingham for treatment.

Methadone is a prescribed drug taken by mouth to reduce the desire for
drugs such as painkillers and heroin. It must be given under the direction
of health professionals.

The proposed clinic drew the ire of Shelby County officials, who sent a
letter of protest to the board. The Shelby County Commission adopted the
letter in November after Shelby County Sheriff Chris Curry said methadone
clinics might aggravate the drug problem rather than help cure it.

"My job was to voice a law enforcement perspective, and that's what I did,"
Curry said. "I felt like the basis for that opposition was sound." The
Shelby County Police Chiefs Association also sent a letter of objection.

While their protests were sent to the board and put on file, no official
objection was discussed during Wednesday's hearing. According to personnel
with the State Health Planning and Development Agency, no group or agency
followed the procedure required to file a formal objection.

"The process wasn't real clear to any of us," Curry said.

The county has little recourse for an appeal, other than filing a lawsuit
against the clinic.

County Commissioner Earl Cunningham, who proposed the county's letter of
opposition, said he would not seek to fight the board's decision.

"I still share the same view, but mine is philosophically based,"
Cunningham said. "They have spoken, and that's it. ... We don't like it,
but we'll abide by their decision."

Organizers have a year to open the clinic. While they must file requests
and paperwork with a few more state agencies, Staats-Sidwell said
Wednesday's decision removed the main obstacle, and that everything else is
a technicality.

Following the applicants' presentation Wednesday, Dr. Swaid N. Swaid, the
board's chairman, expressed his support for methadone treatment.

"The methadone has been a great big help to a lot of people. This cuts
across socioeconomic class in our society," Swaid said. "I have personally
seen the benefits of methadone programs."

But Swaid said clinic operators should turn from their description of
methadone as a lifelong treatment and aim toward addicts' eventual
abstinence from chemicals altogether.

Several methadone patients attended the meeting, including Rick Thompson, a
Montevallo resident who drives almost an hour each way to a Jefferson
County clinic.

He said a methadone clinic in Shelby County would make treatment accessible
to those who are isolated. "There are so many people in Shelby County that
want help and can't get to it," he said.

Organizers did not have a time frame for opening the Calera clinic.
Archibald promised to be sensitive to the needs of residents when selecting
a location.

"We'll be looking for the ideal place for this clinic, possibly in an
industrial area, to appease some of the people that may feel concerned
about such a facility coming into their neighborhood," he said.