ROANOKE METHADONE CLINIC DOESN'T CAUSE PROBLEMS PREDICTED

ROANOKE, Va. -- A methadone clinic that opened one year ago to treat
western Virginia drug addicts has not brought higher crime to its
northwest neighborhood, as residents had feared.

Police were called to the Roanoke Treatment Center 34 times last
year, but 70 percent of the calls were for burglar alarms set off
accidentally by the staff, police spokesman Aisha Johnson said. The
rest were for minor incidents such as reports of suspicious activity.
A nearby business had 49 police calls.

Police calls in the surrounding area were down during the clinic's
first year of operation. There were 6,601 calls to the neighborhood
last year, down from 6,956 in 2004.

Della Millner, who can see the Roanoke Treatment Center from her
kitchen window, said she watched anxiously for problems when it
opened last January.

Now "I don't even know they're up there," Millner told The Roanoke Times.

Jim Beatty, who lives down the street from Millner, agreed that the
clinic has not lived up to neighbors' worst fears, but he said he
remained wary of something he believes was forced on the
predominantly black neighborhood.

"Hopefully, nothing bad will come of it," he said, "but it's
certainly a concern."

A lawsuit brought by seven residents seeking to shut down the clinic
is still pending in Roanoke Circuit Court.

The number of patients has increased gradually to 148, according to
clinic director Letitia Malone. Most are from the Roanoke Valley,
with a few from as far away as Blacksburg or Covington. Most depend
on a daily dose of methadone to curb their addictions to opium-based
prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Percocet and Lortab.

Methadone, a synthetic narcotic developed during World War II as an
alternative to morphine, is also prescribed by physicians as a painkiller.

When used to treat drug addiction, the drug is administered over a
period of years to patients who also receive counseling and drug
tests. About a third of the patients are given take-home doses so
they don't have to visit the clinic each day, Malone said.

Critics have worried that take-home methadone could show up in
Roanoke's drug market, but Johnson said the liquid form of the drug
dispensed at the clinic so far has not turned up on the streets.

Methadone accounts for the highest number of drug overdoses in
western Virginia--69 in 2004, the most recent statistics available
from the state medical examiner's office. Authorities have said
virtually all the methadone overdoses involve the wafer or pill used
as a painkiller.

Before the Roanoke methadone clinic opened, addicts had to drive as
far as Galax or Charlottesville every day for treatment.

As prescription drug abuse in southwest Virginia escalated in recent
years, so did the number of methadone clinics. The controversy they
generated led the General Assembly to pass a moratorium last year
while regulations were revised. It was lifted in December when
then-Gov. Mark R. Warner approved the new rules, which require
demonstration of a need for drug treatment before new clinics are opened.

The state has since received applications for clinics in Winchester
and Williamsburg, but not from Scott County, where a proposed clinic
was put on hold during the moratorium, said Leslie Anderson of the
Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services.