DRUG TREATMENT AND THE FEAR FACTOR

Methadone Clinic Opponents Have Good Reason To Fear Drug Abuse, But Not Its
Treatment.

Whether they are black or white, live in the city or the county, in
Roanoke's heavily black Northwest quadrant or predominantly white Southwest
County, law-abiding people fear drug addiction. And with good reason.

Drugs make them afraid for their children's lives, the safety of their
homes, the peace of their neighborhoods. Addiction threatens all of these.
It is a scourge.

In their fear, city and county residents have found common ground:
passionate opposition to plans for methadone clinics nearby. But good
reason has little to do with the objections.

Methadone clinics treat drug addiction.

Yes, the clinics do have to draw drug addicts in order to do so.

And the fear is: Where drug addicts go, illegal drug dealers and higher
crime just naturally will follow. Possible, certainly; but far from inevitable.

Indeed, Washington, D.C., reports that three methadone clinics within
blocks of each other have spawned an open-air drug market. In Virginia, on
the other hand, law-enforcement officials in localities with clinics all
say they have seen no major criminal activity associated with the treatment
centers.

Similarly, opponents in the city who claim a drug clinic in Northwest must
be "economic racism" have an understandable emotional appeal to a
frustrated minority. But the fear has little to do with reason.

White opposition has not dumped the Southwest County clinic into Northwest.
Two companies are planning two clinics in two localities. If opponents of
the county site prevail, which is hardly a certainty, it is likely to be
because county officials find a less-controversial location - in the county.

There may be legitimate objections to each of the Roanoke Valley sites.
Many clients arrive early in the day, in concentrated numbers that can
create traffic congestion. They are vulnerable to drug dealers.
Accessibility and visibility are legitimate factors.

Raw fear is not.

Addiction is a curse that must be broken. Clinics are needed - somewhere.