Treat Addictions

DON'T PANIC; METHADONE CLINICS WORK WELL

Clarke is program manager for the Virginia Alliance of Methadone Advocates
in Norfolk.

I am following up on the recent essay by Helen Davis, "Say 'no,' Roanoke,
to methadone clinic" (Nov. 21 Commentary page). I have been aware of this
issue for quite some time, and I am always happy to address concerns
communities and individuals may have.

Many of the fears people have when new methadone clinics open never arise.
I believe the only major difference is increased traffic. However, we
experience that whenever a new business of any kind opens.

Patients receiving this treatment come from every background, including
active church members, lawyers, college students of all ages, health-care
workers, truck drivers and parents who participate in the PTA at their
child's school.

I speak with experience when I say this treatment works. I have been a
methadone patient for seven years. In this time, I have enrolled in college
and graduated cum laude in the summer of 2003 with a baccalaureate degree
in human services counseling.

I am not the exception, but rather the norm. Thousands of people in
Virginia are living productive lives thanks to this medication. Research
has repeatedly shown that methadone maintenance treatment is
cost-effective, reduces crime and reduces the transmission of HIV/AIDS and
hepatitis. The medication allows the patient to once again function as a
productive citizen.

In 1997, the National Institutes of Health released the following
statement: "We strongly recommend that legislators and regulators recognize
that providing methadone maintenance treatment is both cost-effective and
compassionate and that it constitutes a health benefit that should be a
component of public and private health care."

It is my hope that the Roanoke Valley community will do the same. Please
contact me at the Virginia Alliance of Methadone Advocates, 3447 Budd
Court, Norfolk, Va., 23518, for information regarding methadone treatment.
Or on the Web at www.vamethadvocates.org. It is our hope that you will join
us in the struggle for compassionate, effective treatment.