METHADONE CLINIC OPPOSED BY SHELBY PANEL

The Shelby County commission voted unanimously Monday night to oppose a
methadone clinic proposed for Calera.

A letter expressing their opposition to a Certificate Of Need will be filed
with the State Health Planning and Development Agency, which controls what
health services can be offered and where.

"I am unalterably opposed to the substitution of one substance abuse for
another," said Commissioner Earl Cunningham, sworn in before Monday's
meeting.

Cunningham cited the Dec. 8 deadline for submitting formal opposition to the
state agency as a reason for urgency. The commissioners also received a
letter from Sheriff Chris Curry opposing the clinic.

Susan Staats-Sidwell, executive director of the Northwest Alabama Treatment
Center, wants to open the Calera clinic. She has said that addicts in Shelby
County are traveling daily to her Bessemer clinic.

The clinic, an opiate replacement center, would distribute methadone, a drug
taken by mouth to reduce the physical desire for illegal drugs, such as
painkillers and heroin. Methadone must be prescribed and administered by
health professionals.

Staats-Sidwell has said addicts will not be driving from Jefferson County to
Shelby County. There are four methadone programs in Jefferson County and
none in Shelby County.

Curry said methadone can be misused by addicts who take it along with the
same drugs it is intended to supplant.

"My position is that this is deadly," Curry said. "In this county in the
last week, we have had two overdoses. One subject's respiration was down to
four times a minute. It was Oxycontin and methadone."

Cunningham was sworn in by Probate Judge Patricia Fuhrmeister before
Monday's meeting as his granddaughter, Cheniah Williams, 10, a fifth-grader
at Chelsea Elementary School, held the Bible. Cunningham was appointed by
Gov. Bob Riley to finish the unexpired term of the late George Dailey.