LGH PLANS METHADONE TREATMENT FOR ADDICTS

For the first time in nearly two decades, a local hospital plans to use
methadone to treat heroin addicts.

Methadone is a synthetic painkiller which blocks symptoms of heroin
withdrawal. Lancaster General Hospital wants to administer the drug to
addicts in the detoxification program at its Susquehanna Division on North
Seventh Street in Columbia.

Only 22 hospitals in the state use methadone for detoxification. The
closest is Crozer Chester Medical Center in Delaware County, according to
the state Department of Health.

LGH wants to add methadone to its arsenal of detox drugs because it is the
most effective treatment for some addicts, according to Scott Berlucci,
president/CEO of the Susquehanna Division. Also, pregnant addicts need
methadone to prevent additional problems for their babies, he said.

The hospital does not plan to open a methadone clinic, Berlucci said.

At clinics, long-time addicts stop by every day to receive methadone, which
decreases their craving for heroin. Using the drug in this way is called
methadone maintenance and is different from using it during detoxification.

Typically, addicts are on methadone maintenance for years, whereas
detoxification lasts for days.

There are 28 methadone clinics in the state, including in Reading and
Harrisburg, according to Cheryl Williams of the Department of Health.

In some areas, clinics have been controversial because some people object
to having them near their homes.

Because of a recent change in state law, LGH must have approval from
Columbia Borough Council before it begins using methadone.

Borough lawyers are working with the hospital to make sure state
requirements are fulfilled, according to Edward Arnold, borough manager.

For instance, the hospital must notify neighbors of its decision to
administer methadone, he said. Also, a public hearing on the matter is
required. A date for that hasn't been set.

Arnold said it's too soon to tell whether residents will have any
objections to the plan.

Methadone hasn't been available locally since about the early 1980s.

That's when LGH closed a methadone clinic it had operated in a row-home
near the main hospital on Duke Street, according to Richard Kastner,
executive director of the Lancaster County Commission on Drug & Alcohol
Abuse.

He said Medicaid and some insurance companies cover methadone maintenance,
so some local addicts travel to clinics outside the area for it.

This month, the commission, which serves low-income addicts, began to cover
methadone maintenance for the first time since the 1980s, when it stopped
doing so because of budget considerations, Kastner said.

The commission will pay for 10 clients to go to clinics in Harrisburg and
Coatesville. Cost is $4,000 per client per year.

Methadone is typically dispensed in a liquid form and mixed with a drink
such as orange juice, Kastner said.

Clients must go to the clinic every day. Because it can be sold on the
street, they are not allowed to take methadone home.

The methadone "allows them to function in the community, hold down a job,
live with their family, so that they're not seeking heroin on the streets,"
Kastner said.

He said that generally people using methadone maintenance have been addicts
five years or more and have tried drug-free approaches to shake their
addiction. "It's a treatment of last resort," he said.

The commission has begun paying for methadone maintenance again because the
state recently began to require it to do so.

As heroin has gained popularity and become more pure, more addicts are
requiring methadone maintenance, said Carolyn Cass, of the Department of
Health.

"We have seen the number of admissions to methadone maintenance clinics
rise," she said. "That is because of the influx of heroin and the purity of
it."