METHADONE PROGRAM START UP DELAYED BY NEED FOR SECUREM SITE

ST. JOHNSBURY - Organizers of a proposed mobile methadone clinic here
delayed its startup from Feb. 1 to March 1 due to logistical
difficulties, including their difficulty in finding a place to set it
up.

"My hope is we will find something within St. Johnsbury, but if not,
we need to widen the net," said Steve Rosen, development director of
the California-based Bay Area Addiction Research and Treatment Center,
which has been hired to set up the program.

A community advisory committee met Monday at St. Johnsbury Academy to
discuss the program. The state-initiated opiate addiction treatment
program calls for two mobile units to administer methadone in the
Northeast Kingdom, one based in Newport and one in St. Johnsbury.

Rosen said he initially thought the biggest hurdle would be getting
through the state's regulatory process, but things seem to be moving
forward there.

"I'm feeling very optimistic about the CON (certificate of need)
required by the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities
and Healthcare Administration," Rosen said, adding, "BISHCA staff have
been very generous with their time."

The biggest obstacle now is finding a suitable location and willing
landowner, those at the meeting agreed. The program requires a secure
garage, where the mobile dispensing unit can be parked and the
methadone safely stored. Also necessary are administrative offices and
a separate location to dispense treatment each day. Nobody in town has
come forward to offer property for the program and some committee
members sounded pessimistic about finding it in town.

"I thought finding the location was going to be easy, but finding a
place to dispense from seems less favorable than in the beginning,"
said Vermont State Police Lt. George Hacking. Some places that seemed
promising at first quickly went awry.

Organizers initially honed in on using the parking lot at the
Northeastern Regional Correctional Facility as a dispensing site, but
abutting landowners vigorously opposed the idea.

New hope came in recent days, but nothing has been solidified. Program
organizers said they entered into talks with representatives at a
downtown St. Johnsbury property that has both a garage and
administrative offices, but no adequate dispensing sites have been
identified.

Windhorse Commons, a property identified as appearing to be suitable
for offices and a garage, is a business complex on Eastern Avenue
between offices housing Department of Corrections employees and the
headquarters of the local paper. The property has a garage with a
separate entrance onto Federal Street, said program coordinator Alan
Aiken, who formerly was with the local Tri-County Substance Abuse program.

"It seems to be a large enough place." Aiken said money had been
discussed, and, "I think the financial piece is the closest we've found."

Property owners sounded cautious Monday night when contacted at home
for a comment. Theresa Glickstein, owner of Windhorse Commons, said in
a telephone interview she did not want to comment on the prospects of
renting to an opiate treatment facility, adding, "I don't know whether
the place is feasible for what they are doing. I have other tenants."

Windhorse Commons tenants include a University of Vermont extension
office, a development company, food brokers, a title insurance company
and an online magazine.

Other properties were suggested for use by the program, including
space in the St. Johnsbury-Lyndon Industrial Park. Other sites, such
as the parking lot at Fairbanks Scales on Route 2, the area behind
FedEx on Route 5, or property known as "The Foundry" across the
Sleepers River from Western Avenue, were considered, but property
owners have not yet been contacted.

Rosen asked the committee to increase its efforts in finding a site in
town before searching farther afield. While finding a location has
proved problematic, other facets of the plan are moving forward.
Organizers said resumes have been arriving from interested potential
employees and the vehicles to be used for dispensing are being
customized by the dealer, Starship Custom Vehicles of Valparaiso, Ind.
Funds cannot start flowing until the project gains BISHCA approval,
which could take from two to seven months.