ANOTHER METHADONE CLINIC IS PROPOSED

The Roanoke Facility, Less Than A Mile From Three City Schools, Could Open
Within Three Or Four Months, Said An Official

While a proposed methadone clinic in Roanoke County has stirred up a public
outcry, plans for a clinic in the city have been quietly moving forward.

An official with National Specialty Clinics confirmed Friday that the
Nashville, Tenn.,-based company plans to open a methadone clinic at 3208
Hershberger Road, near its intersection with Cove Road in Northwest Roanoke.

The city issued a business license this week for the clinic, and an
application with the state is pending.

Although there has been no public comment on the proposed clinic, its
location is similar in some ways to a Southwest Roanoke County site that
has met strong opposition from residents.

The Hershberger Road building is close to many homes and apartments, and is
less than a mile from three schools. Proximity of homes and schools is a
key factor in opposition to the Life Center of Galax's proposal to open a
methadone clinic at Colonial Avenue and Ogden Road in the county.

But unlike Life Center's plan, which is tied up in a morass of legal and
administrative appeals over zoning issues, the proposed methadone clinic at
Hershberger Road saw its business license approved by the city with no
public input. "Because people on Hershberger Road probably don't know this
is going on, and are not as politically connected as the people in Roanoke
County, this neighborhood is going to become a dumping ground," said
Reginald Shareef, a political science professor at Radford University.

Just two weeks ago, Shareef predicted in his Roanoke.com column that a "Not
in my back yard" backlash in the county did not bode well for minority
neighborhoods.

"This just gets back to an institutional bias that says 'not in my
neighborhood,' and the government officials say 'then whose neighborhood?'
" Shareef said. " And it always ends up being in the black community."

Although plans for the clinic have been in the works for more than a year,
National Specialty Clinics has made no public announcement.

Details of its proposal are contained in a license application to the state
Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse
Services, which was obtained by The Roanoke Times through the Freedom of
Information Act.

Tim Bohman, regional manager for National Specialty Clinics, confirmed
Friday that the company plans to treat up to 200 addicts of opium-based
drugs such as OxyContin and heroin. Patients will receive daily doses of
methadone, a narcotic that curbs drug cravings and prevents withdrawal
symptoms.

The facility - planned for a vacant office building across from the Home
Depot store and less than a mile from Westside Elementary, Ruffner Middle
and William Fleming High School - could open within three or four months,
Bohman said.

He declined to comment when asked if there is sufficient need for two
methadone clinics in the Roanoke Valley.

But there is money to be made in the field. A budget forecast included in
National Specialty Clinics' application projects the clinic will collect
$492,000 in patient fees during its first year. Once expenses are paid, the
clinic is expected earn $127,026 before taxes, a profit margin of 25 percent.

Officials at the Life Center of Galax, which predicted similar figures in
its application for the Colonial Avenue clinic, also declined to comment on
whether the Roanoke Valley can support two methadone clinics. About 70
people from the area currently drive to Galax for treatment.

"Who knows if there is a need, and until that question is answered I don't
see how we could justify two of them," said Mark Graham, head of a
citizens' task force opposed to the Colonial Avenue site.

Commissioner of Revenue Sherman Holland said the city issued a business
license this week for the clinic under the name "Roanoke Treatment Center."

Holland said the company met all requirements, including approval from the
zoning department.

Brian Townsend, Roanoke's director of planning, building and development,
said the clinic is allowed under the Hershberger site's commercial zoning
classification. Townsend said the company must still obtain a certificate
of occupancy before it can begin operation. Townsend said the certificate
will likely be granted for the office building, which most recently housed
Family Services of Roanoke Valley.

Meanwhile, the clinic's application with the state has moved slowly since
it was filed in April 2002. Leslie Anderson, director of the office of
licensing for the state department of mental health, said the application
is considered inactive because the state has not heard from National
Specialty Clinics officials in some time.

But according to Bohman, the company is actively pursuing state approval.

The most recent correspondence included in records released by the state is
a June 9 letter in which the state informed National Specialty Clinics that
it still needed to submit detailed policies and procedures for the clinic.
Once the state approves a clinic, it must still receive permission from the
Drug Enforcement Administration and the Board of Pharmacy before it can
dispense methadone.

Bohman declined to comment when asked if the company has contacted
neighboring homes and businesses about its plans. Unlike the Life Center,
National Specialty Clinics made no public announcement after securing a
lease for its building.

While concerns about increased crime and traffic are often associated with
methadone clinics, the Northwest Roanoke site raises another dynamic.

"It's no big secret that Roanoke city government treats the black community
like second-class citizens," said Jeff Artis, a community activist
affiliated with the Southern Christian Leadership Council.

"We're going to fight this tooth and nail," he said. "And we will pursue
any means possible short of violence."

Staff writer Todd Jackson contributed to this report.