CLINIC PROVIDES A RAY OF HOPE FOR ADDICTS

MIDDLESBORO - The abuse of prescription medication - OxyContin in
particular - continues to be a major problem in Middlesboro and the
surrounding area.

The owners of Rehabilitation Drug Services Barbara Smith and Pam Wenger say
they have already been contacted by over 100 people who hoping to start
receiving methadone at the clinic to treat their addiction.

One such recovering addict is Amanda Turner of Middlesboro. She attended an
open house at Rehabilitation Drug Services Thursday that was planned to
contrast the M.A.D. rally.

Turner gets up at around 6 a.m. every day and goes to Corbin with her
mother, where she receives a dose of Methadone at a clinic there.

"It makes me feel normal," she said. "My whole attitude is different, I
don't feel nervous all the time, my relationships with my mother and my
kids are better than they've ever been and I have goals for myself now."

Turner started taking Xanex at a young age and soon found herself addicted
to OxyContin or any pain medication she could get. "I would steal things
and take them return them for cash; I would take money from people; I did a
lot of dirty stuff," she said. "With methadone, I don't think about doing
stuff like that."

With the closest methadone treatment centers in Corbin and Knoxville, she
actually started medicating herself with illicit methadone at first.

"I got it from someone in Morristown who was getting it from a pain
center," she said.

Now she and her mother are hopeful that Rehabilitation Drug Services will
open in Middlesboro so Amanda, and others like her, can be treated close to
home.

"My whole life would be better," she said. "I would have more time and money."

Turner is not working now, but is hoping to start a new job in the fall.
Being able to get a dose of methadone locally would make it easier to work
and get her three boys ready for school.

"(Getting up and going to Corbin each day) is stressful," she said. "If I
don't get there by 9, I don't get my dose for the day."

Turner's mother, Sherry, said before the methadone treatments started she
couldn't talk to her daughter without it turning into a fight.

"They say to get them into church," she said. "But their minds are so
clouded by the drugs that they don't even think about going to church or
anything else."

The Turners say that many of the concerns people who are opposed to the
clinic have are unfounded, based on their experience going to Corbin.
There, they say a security guard is on patrol during the busy early morning
hours and no one is allowed to loiter outside the clinic.

"I'm not even allowed to leave the car," Sherry Turner said.

And as far as the clinic causing more drug traffic in Middlesboro, "There
are so many drug dealers in town already and they don't have chase people
down to try and sell them drugs," she said.

Turner added that many of the people speaking out against the clinic have
not done anything to help addict get off of drugs.

"They've turned their heads to the problem and if this clinic doesn't open,
they'll turn their heads again," she said.

Another Middlesboro resident, a former EMT who didn't want to use his name
for fear of losing his current job, is also hoping the clinic will open.

He said he has been a drug addict for five years and started using pills
after getting two DUIs for alcohol abuse. He is currently not in any
treatment program, but says he takes methadone he gets off the street along
with whatever other drugs he can get. He is currently spending $700 to $800
per week on his drug habit.

"My entire paycheck is going toward drugs off the street," he said. "I know
that if these doors open it gives me an opportunity to not have to steal-to
get back to a normal life."

He said he has tried other programs over the years including CompCare, AA
and NA, but they just didn't work. He thinks the methadone program would
work for him because it would control his cravings for the drugs.

"If I could do it today, I'd quit," he said. "It's not by choice."

Smith and Wenger say they hear stories like these every day and are driven
to help people who want to overcome their addiction.

"If we don't offer treatment, how do we help these people get better,"
Wenger said. "Twenty-five years of research shows that methadone is the
number one treatment for addiction in the world."

One criticism of the program is that even the most optimistic statistics
show that it works for only 30 percent of addicts.

"If a building with ten people in it was on fire and you could only get
three of them out, wouldn't you do it?" she said.

Methadone is an addictive drug itself and Wenger said only clients who are
already addicted to opiates are allowed to join the program.

She added that new clients would be started out at a very low dose of the
drug and are monitored closely the first several times they take it.

"No one starts out taking Methadone on a dose where they could walk out the
door intoxicated," she said.

According to Wenger, there is more to Rehabilitation Drug Service than just
giving out methadone. They also provide counseling and the program is
administered under the supervision of a psychiatrist. There are also group
sessions where addicts can talk to others going through the same problems.

"We also search for opportunities to help them in their lives," she said.
"Is there vocational training they could qualify for or can they get into
college - The methadone allows them to be able to function. And if they are
doing something positive, they feel better about themselves."