TWO MOBILE METHADONE CLINICS EYED FOR NEK

The state is considering two mobile methadone clinics for the Northeast
Kingdom, one for the Newport City area and the other for St. Johnsbury.

The goal, said Barbara Cimaglio of the Department of Health, is to get
service to patients instead of running one mobile clinic over Sheffield
Heights on Interstate 91 every day.

Most of the 20 people at a public meeting Monday evening in the Newport
City council room preferred a mobile clinic over a fixed-base dispensary,
and liked having two such mobile clinics in the NEK.

But some remained skeptical that mobile clinics would provide the service
and security methadone treatment centers will need.

The idea of mobile clinics is to make methadone treatment centers palatable
in this part of the state, where the need is greatest. The state is
spending more money transporting heroin addicts to Burlington or
out-of-state to clinics than for any other region in the state.

And the numbers of students who are using or exposed to alcohol, marijuana
and heroin is high.

Using methadone treatment to help addicts lead productive lives is
apparently no longer an issue. The city council, having heard the extent of
the latest wave of heroin use and its purity, cheapness and availability,
has been sold on bringing methadone treatment to the area.

Cimaglio said the state so far has accepted a proposal from a California
firm to provide the two mobile clinics. Only two care providers bid on the
project.

The proposal was to park the mobile clinic in an area in the city for
limited daytime hours, then to shut it down and put the clinic in a safe
garage overnight, with the methadone in a pharmacy or hospital setting
overnight.

But city council members and candidates for state office, who were out in
force at the hearing, said having a mobile clinic in a fixed location
didn't make a lot of sense.

"It won't be parked on Main Street," she pointed out. When the clinic
moves, there will be no reason for anyone to hang out at the location.

So far, the clinics are not intended to offer the more extensive counseling
addicts will also need to receive, Cimaglio said.

Councilor John Wilson urged the state to make the clinic mobile in use as
well as name, taking the methadone to Island Pond or Barton as well,
wherever it is needed.

With a separate mobile clinic for St. Johnsbury and a new fixed clinic in
Lebanon, N.H., the Newport City clinic will not draw more people to the
area for services and methadone, she said.

She estimated that 100 people in Caledonia, Essex and Orleans counties
would use the service. Twenty already go to Burlington every day for
methadone treatment. Others drive to New Hampshire or Greenfield, Mass.

Maureen Fountain disagreed with the sense of security the mobile clinics
might offer. "I give it months before it is hijacked," she said, calling
addiction a powerful, life-controlling need.

She said it will be incredibly dangerous for the four people, including one
security guard, in the mobile clinic, and called for a fixed base clinic in
a hospital or other secure facility.

The comments at the hearing will be used to firm up the project, Cimaglio
said. The methadone clinics are in the state budget, and are a priority for
Gov. James Douglas, she added.

The state is also seeking people to sit on a citizens advisory committee.
Anyone interested should contact City Manager John Ward.