TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC, TREAT ADDICTION

Any attempts to further regulate methadone clinics should take into account
that treating addiction is critical to public health and safety.

Methadone is not the source of the nation's, the region's, the Roanoke
Valley's drug addiction problems. The opioid is a part of the
solution, one weapon in a decades-old "war on drugs" that always will
be a losing battle for law enforcement alone.

Supply surely can create demand. But, as long as a profit can be made,
demand - especially one so urgent as feeding an addiction - virtually
assures supply. Illicit means raise the cost steeply, to the addict
and the community.

Well-run methadone clinics lower those costs. Well-run clinics attempt
to meet, then reduce and eventually eliminate individual demand, case
by case, person by person, decriminalizing drug addiction and treating
it as the public-health problem it is.

Whether for profit or not, private or government-operated, well-run
clinics are a part of the drug war's treatment end that gets plenty of
lip service, but too little support, from politicians and public alike.

The critical variable is not for-profit or nonprofit, public or
private. The critical variable is "well-run."

Reporter Laurence Hammack's enlightening story Sunday about the
business of methadone clinics makes that much clear.

Methadone advocates also argue, and we agree, that well-run clinics
are not merely a wash - neither a detriment nor an asset - but benefit
the entire community.

For that reason, lawmakers charged with giving localities and
law-enforcement agencies tools to protect the public safety should
fight the political urge to create barriers for mere appearance's sake.

Localities should be able to know of methadone clinics and set
conditions to ensure the quality of their operations. And, of course,
a clinic's location can be one determinant in how good a corporate
citizen it proves to be.

But a ban on drug treatment clinics within a half-mile of a school?
Why, when Galax Elementary School has reported no problems associated
with a (presumably well-run) clinic just blocks away? If clinics
endanger children, why worry only about children at school? Why not
ban drug treatment centers within a half-mile of day-care centers,
churches, malls, fast-food restaurants - anyplace children hang out?

Why not? Because clinics will not prey on innocent children. But
addicts will. Those seeking to break their addictions must have access
to effective treatment. For some, that can be methadone.