DOCTOR: CLINIC NEEDED

The medical director of a planned methadone clinic in Fort Payne said
he feels people have gotten the wrong idea about the facility.

Dr. Gary Holland, who currently works with a methadone treatment
center in Cullman, said the Sand Mountain Treatment Center, expected
to open in Fort Payne by fall, is something the area needs.

"[The Cullman center] treats almost 200 people per day. It's been in
business three-and-a-half years and never advertised once," Holland said.

The State Health Planning and Development Agency's Certificate of
Need Board in Montgomery recently voted 4-2 to approve the clinic.

The decision came over objections from DeKalb County District
Attorney Mike O'Dell and officials with DeKalb County Court Referral,
who oversee the county's Drug Court program.

Assistant DeKalb County DA Scott Lloyd said the most obvious
addiction treated with methadone is heroin addiction and that neither
DeKalb nor Cherokee has a single case of heroin addiction.

"The counties where methadone clinics are needed is where a heroin
problem exists and we don't have that problem," Lloyd said.

Holland said that's true, but the planned Fort Payne methadone clinic
is intended to treat those addicted to other opiates, and target
people who are addicted to pain pills.

"There isn't a problem with heroin, but there is a pain pill
addiction problem in the [DeKalb] area," he said.

He said the local clinic would specialize in treating people who are
addicted to drugs such as Loratab, hydrocodone, morphine, and
OxyCotin by replacing the opiate with methadone, a long-lasting
narcotic that keeps withdrawal symptoms away.

Lloyd said another major reason for the opposition is that clinics
such as the one planned for Fort Payne promote the idea that the only
way to get off drugs is by using methadone that you get by prescription.

"That's a defeatist attitude to tell someone the only way to get
clean is to keep using," Lloyd said.

Holland disagrees.

"Opiate addiction is looked upon as a chronic illness. Medical
treatment is required for those illnesses and there is no cure for
them. This isn't something that is in people's heads. These people
aren't inferior or weak, but they have a chronic illness," Holland said.

Holland's Cullman-based company plans to open the treatment center
for opiate addicts at 2717 Gault Ave. N. in Fort Payne. He said Fort
Payne was targeted as a location for a methadone clinic because,
"it's one of the last areas in the state that is underserved.

"People have to drive a minimum of 45 minutes for treatment. It's
unfair for people who are addicted to pain pills to have to have to
drive that far when others who have a sore throat just have to drive
down the street," Holland said.

He said 75 percent of opiate addicts are employed either full time or
part time according to government records. Holland said years of
research has determined that traditional detoxification treatment
doesn't work for opiate addicts, but methadone treatment has proven
successful. He said it is legal for people to take prescription
methadone and still work.

"Methadone maintenance has been the most successful for opiate
addicts. It relieves cravings and withdrawals 100 percent when taken
appropriately," Holland said.

Holland said he believes local opposition stems from a "national
stigma" that methadone treatment has been battling since it first
became associated with the treatment of heroin addiction in the 1960s.

Holland said he believes the Fort Payne clinic will treat at least
100 patients in the first year.

"Most people won't even know the clinic is there. Most patients will
have to get in and get out by at least 8 a.m. because they will have
to get to work," Holland said.

O'Dell still isn't convinced the clinic is needed in Fort Payne. He
said there might still be a way to appeal the CON board's decision,
and has pledged to pursue "every available avenue" for doing so.