LIFE CENTER PITCHES METHADONE CLINIC TO LEE SUPERVISORS

JONESVILLE - A company hoping to eventually operate a methadone clinic in
Lee County may have won a few converts in the crowd after making a pitch to
the Board of Supervisors Tuesday, but a second delegation speaking against
such clinics may have kept the company from getting the support it will
take to locate here.

Tina Bullins, executive director of the Life Center of Galax, told
supervisors her center was established in 1973 and has been offering opiate
addiction services for the past five years in Southwest Virginia.

The center is owned by the California-based CRC Health Group, and the
company has been looking to expand in the region for about three years.
Bullins said the company operates another treatment center in Cedar Bluff,
Va., which is utilized by approximately 150 Lee County residents. A ZIP
code analysis indicated that a center would be most beneficially located in
the Dryden area, she said, because many patients of the clinics often drop
out of the treatment program because they can't afford the long drive for
either financial or time reasons.

Bullins did not identify the proposed location of the clinic but did say
that a property owner in Dryden has stepped forward to offer a facility.
Earlier this month Claude Ray, chairman of the Board of Supervisors,
identified the building as one between a service station and the former
Wagon Wheel Restaurant on the west end of the community.

Bullins said stories people often hear about methadone clinics are just
myths. The clinics do not bring more crime or drugs to the area, nor do
they keep substance abusers addicted to methadone, she said. In fact,
Bullins said, 68 percent of the patients at the Tazewell County facility
are either working or students, and 85 percent of clinic patients are
abstinent within three years.

Responding to questions from supervisors, Bullins said the centers offer
more than just a daily dose of methadone to help addicts deal with cravings
for other opiates. The facilities offer individual and group counseling,
drug testing, laboratory services and more. Most patients come to the
clinic every day for approximately 90 days and eventually can taper off to
just one or two visits per month. The cost of the treatment is $77 per
week, she said, and grants are available for some indigent patients.

Bullins said some patients eventually earn the privilege of taking
medication home in liquid form, but they are closely monitored, and the
dispensing of the methadone is carefully regulated by both the state and
federal government.

Ed Ohlinger, regional director of outpatient services, added that the
clinic will be a nondescript building, and neighbors won't really know it
is there because most patients come between 5 and 6 a.m. for their daily
dose. Security officers patrol the parking lot to keep undesirables and
problems away.

Ohlinger said before the company opens such a clinic, it will conduct
community meetings to educate the public on the need and purpose of the
clinic. In fact, he said, a community group is being formed to help garner
support for the clinic. He provided supervisors with a wealth of
information on his company and on methadone and opiate treatment programs
and encouraged them to study it before making a decision.

Supervisor D.J. Barker advised the two that he had not supported another
addiction treatment facility in the area until organizers of that group
assured him there would be no methadone dispensed in their program. He then
asked why he should support an organization that admits it plans to do so.

Ray observed that while he was convinced there was a need for addiction
treatment, he was not convinced that it was needed "in our back yards."

By this point in the presentation, an unidentified member of the audience
told the board that he has been in a methadone maintenance program for four
years and knows the effectiveness of the program firsthand. Another speaker
admitted that he had appeared to speak against the clinic, but after the
presentation he was convinced of the need and would support the clinic.

"We have an OxyContin problem in Lee County, so let's get the people some
help," he remarked.

Sam Dillon from Planning District 1 Behavioral Health Services and Doug
Varney, CEO of Frontier Health, told supervisors that methadone programs do
have value, but they had concerns with for-profit companies being involved.

The men questioned the statistics for success rates quoted by Bullins and
Ohlinger.

As the meeting wound down, another speaker from the audience encouraged
supervisors to allow the clinic to locate in Dryden. She noted that she's
taken friends and family members to various clinics in the region and seen
the effectiveness of them and said Lee County addicts deserve the same
service as those in more urban areas such as Richmond or Norfolk.