METHADONE ONLY WAY SHE CAN LEAD NORMAL LIFE

BRISTOL, Va. - Almost a decade ago, Melissa Leonard was in a car wreck so
severe she died three times in the hospital.

The crash broke her lower legs, a thigh bone, both feet and her hip and
ruptured her spleen.

The fight to survive and recover was brutal. But another fight that lay
ahead of her was almost as unexpected and as wicked as the wreck that
nearly took her life.

At age 15 and after nine months of taking narcotic painkillers, Melissa was
discharged from the hospital a drug addict.

Now, at 24, she says methadone is the only way she can live a normal life.

"I'd rather take the methadone," she said. "I'm not doing something
illegal, and it's keeping my life stable."

Leonard is on the other side of a debate over whether and where methadone
clinics should be allowed to set up shop.

Washington County recently denied a request to allow a clinic to open in a
house on Old Dominion Road in the Lowry Hills area, just five minutes from
Leonard's home. Lowry Hills residents launched a campaign to keep the
clinic out of the neighborhood.

Methadone clinics treat addicts by swapping their drug of choice for
controlled doses of synthetic methadone. The philosophy is that for $10 a
day, addicts can curb withdrawal symptoms instead of committing crimes and
engaging in risky lifestyles often associated with narcotics abuse.

County Administrator Mark Reeter turned down the clinic's request. In two
weeks, the Board of Supervisors is set to consider a zoning law that would
greatly restrict the ability of clinic operators to locate anywhere in
Washington County.

The only other option for those looking to wean themselves off narcotics
using methadone is traveling to another clinic.

The nearest ones are in Boone, N.C. and Tazewell, both more than an hour
away. Another is in Galax, nearly two hours away.

Leonard said the drive time limits her ability to go to school or hold a
full-time job. Driving long distances while dealing with the sickness of
withdrawal has proven to be a dangerous combination.

"I've totaled three cars driving to Galax," Leonard said.

Going cold turkey is not an option, she said. She has completed two
separate methadone programs, only to relapse.

She said contending with chronic pain in her legs, which keeps her from
walking at all some days, and the sickness of withdrawal can be too much.

"It's like the flu - really bad," Leonard said. "You get sick, nauseated,
there's diarrhea and cold and hot flashes. You feel like you want to die."

With methadone, she doesn't crave drugs, and the treatment helps with her
pain. She said counseling, which she gets at least three times a week,
sometimes for as long as an hour, also helps.

She said she'd like to stop using methadone at some point but is too scared
of relapsing to quit right now.

She and her mother, Pat Leonard, said they were disappointed in the
county's decision to deny the methadone clinic's request.

Pat Leonard said she understands the fears of Lowry Hills residents and the
county's concern about the clinic's proximity to John S. Battle High School
but said some of those feelings may not be rational.

"There's students at John S. Battle High School that need to be in that
methadone clinic," she said. "And some of these people who are against the
clinic need to look at their neighbors."

Her daughter was an addict while attending Battle, and she said she can't
count on both hands the number of people she knows in the community who
need help.

They're not all stereotypical drug addicts, either, she said. They're the
kind of people she sees driving Cadillacs and BMWs.

Pat Leonard said the debate has been one-sided against the clinic because
of the stigma drug abusers carry. She said most people in favor of the
clinic aren't willing to expose themselves to ridicule.

She said the result is that people who can't afford to travel more than an
hour to a clinic continue to abuse drugs. They continue to steal to get
money for their fixes and continue to engage in unhealthy behavior.

A methadone clinic, she said, would reduce drug-related crimes and the
burden on society of treating the byproducts of drug abuse such as high
unemployment, poverty and disease.

Ignoring the problem in an area well-documented to be a hot spot in the
country's war against prescription drug abuse, she said, would only
compound the problem.