BLACK LEADER CALLS DRUG CLINIC 'ECONOMIC RACISM'

An angry crowd gathered in the parking lot of a vacant office building
Tuesday and vowed to fight plans for a methadone clinic at the Northwest
Roanoke site.

"We want to send a clear message to the company they are not welcome in
Roanoke, Virginia," said Jeff Artis, a community activist leading the
opposition. "And if the company is stupid enough to come here, we're going
to shut it down."

A proposal by National Specialty Clinics to open a methadone clinic at 3208
Hershberger Road amounts to "economic racism," Artis said.

But if the company thought a black community would offer the least
resistance to a drug treatment center, he said, it will soon discover
otherwise.

In addition to gathering signatures on petitions and contacting elected
officials, some opponents are also willing to go to jail for acts of civil
disobedience that Artis said will be part of nonviolent picketing outside
the building.

"I myself don't have a problem with going to jail to protect my community,"
Artis told about 50 people who attended a news conference held at the
Hershberger Road site to kick off opposition to the clinic.

Artis expects trespassing will be the most serious charge to come out of
the protests. "There are some very angry people in this community who have
been talking about doing some interesting things to the building, and I
have tried to persuade them not to," he said.

Opponents also plan to take photographs of patients entering the clinic and
post them on a Web site if it can be determined they have criminal records.

"Some people say, 'Jeff, you can't do that.'" Artis said. "Yes I can,
because this is my neighborhood. ... We will send a clear message to these
people: Don't be coming around here."

Many residents fear that opening a methadone clinic which will draw addicts
to the area will also bring crime and drug dealing. Three schools -
Westside Elementary, Ruffner Middle and William Fleming High - are located
within a mile of the site.

Police in other Virginia localities with methadone clinics have reported
few problems.

But Artis said he has no confidence in the ability of Roanoke city and
police officials to prevent an already existing drug problem in the
Hershberger Road area from feeding off the clinic's clientele.

With the city still refusing to acknowledge a gang problem, "how will they
deal with the future problems?" Artis said.

Some people have seen the city's quick approval of a business license
before plans for the clinic became public - compared to Roanoke County's
opposition to a second clinic after a public outcry in the suburbs - as
evidence that Northwest Roanoke is being targeted as a dumping ground.

"I think it was done under the cover of darkness because this is a black
neighborhood," said Lin Johnson, a youth leader at the nearby Garden of
Prayer No. 7 Church. The church opposes the clinic because of its proximity
to a gymnasium it plans to build for inner-city youths.

Artis said he has tried unsuccessfully to contact officials with National
Specialty Clinics. David Gnass, chief executive officer of the Nashville,
Tenn.-based company, said Tuesday that he was not aware of any such calls.

Gnass said that while opposition is regrettable, it will not alter the
company's plans to dispense methadone as a form of treatment for addicts of
opium-based drugs such as heroin and OxyContin.

While Artis agreed there is a need for methadone clinics, he said a
hospital setting would be more appropriate than a neighborhood. Artis said
he has heard about discussions to put the clinic planned by the Life Center
at the Veterans Affairs medical facility in Salem.