METHADONE CLINIC WORRIES DRUG OFFICIAL

A Legal Battle Over The Possible Location Of A Methadone Treatment Center
For Heroin Addicts And Other Opiate-Based Drug Users In Spartanburg Has The
County's Top Drug Abuse Treatment Official Concerned.

A legal battle over the possible location of a methadone treatment center
for heroin addicts and other opiate-based drug users in Spartanburg has the
county's top drug abuse treatment official concerned.

David Forrester, executive director of the Spartanburg County Alcohol and
Drug Abuse Commission, said most privately funded methadone treatment
centers are "in it for the money," keeping patients on high dosages for
indefinite periods without trying to wean them.

"I'm not saying (the health-care provider who wants to put a facility in
Spartanburg) is doing this, but the reason they do it is so patients will
keep coming in to get more methadone," Forrester said. "The private
providers are making a lot of money."

But Brent Brady, whose campaign to bring methadone treatment to Spartanburg
has encountered resistance from a competitor in Greenville, said he doesn't
run his two outpatient narcotic treatment programs in North Carolina that
way, and he wouldn't do it here.

"With most private treatment programs, (Forrester) is right, but that's not
our philosophy," Brady said. "We're trying to set a higher standard. My
facilities do try to get patients detoxed off of methadone. We start
weaning them off as soon as they and our staff think they're ready to start
detoxing. Everyone's different; it could take 60 days, six months, or two
years before they're ready."

Brady said his treatment centers often refer patients who have been
"stabilized" to treatment for other health-related problems. They also set
up referrals for housing and employment, he said.

"But a lot of our patients (in North Carolina) are white-collar people," he
said. "We have nurses, attorneys, business owners in treatment.

"I do care about my patients. I'd love to see them drug-free, if that was
reality, so methadone treatment wouldn't be necessary."

The use of methadone, a legally prescribed synthetic drug, to treat opiate
addiction is generally accepted in the scientific and counseling
communities. Patients do not get high from the drug, and in fact can work
and function normally after taking it. It has no sedating or intoxicating
effects.

Taken orally at treatment centers, methadone eliminates withdrawal symptoms
and helps addicts conquer their cravings for illegal drugs.

Brady said - and Forrester agreed - that the controlled setting of
methadone treatment also is safer than buying drugs on the street and
possibly using dirty or disease-carrying needles.

Methadone patients, Brady said, generally are not interested in getting
high or committing crimes in order to buy illegal drugs, as they might once
have done.

"They can be in treatment with us for $10 a day as opposed to spending $200
or $300 a day trying to support a drug habit," he said. "I feel certain
that having methadone available and accessible in Spartanburg would reduce
the crime rate there, like it has in other areas."

Brady said his proposed methadone treatment center, Spartanburg Treatment
Associates, would charge patients $60 per week, $240 per month, or the $10
daily rate for treatment.

Lt. Ron Gahagan, a spokesman for the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office,
said that, because Spartanburg has no methadone treatment center, anti-drug
officers don't have the experience necessary to form an opinion about
methadone's possible effect on the crime rate. Sgt. James McCann of the
Greenville County Sheriff's Office, where two methadone treatment centers
are located, said there is no empirical data analyzing those facilities'
impact on crime.

Even with the benefits, Forrester believes methadone will never be a
long-term answer to drug addiction.

"It trades heroin or any of the other opiates for methadone," he said. "So
people aren't really dealing with their addiction; they're just swapping
one addiction for another.

"If methadone is used as a step-down drug, fine, but some people are taking
it 15-20 years or for the rest of their lives."

Even so, Forrester said he has become more tolerant of methadone over the
past several years.

"I used to be totally against it, but when you consider all the benefits, I
think that outweighs the fact that people are not really dealing with their
addiction," he said.

"I'm not sure about the long-term physical effects of methadone, but it's
got to be better than heroin," he said.