PLANNED METHADONE CLINIC WORRIES NEIGHBORS

Roanoke County Residents Feel Betrayed By Owner Of Former Family Clinic

Residents fear the center, which would dispense methadone to people
addicted to OxyContin, heroin and other opium-based drugs, will decrease
property values because of the influx of addicts.

The corner of Colonial Avenue and Ogden Road is not a popular spot for drug
addicts - at least not yet.

But if plans for a methadone clinic go through, hundreds of people addicted
to OxyContin, heroin and other opium-based drugs will soon be drawn to the
Southwest Roanoke County site like junkies to a street dealer.

The difference, however, is that these addicts will be looking for help.

Heroin and OxyContin abuse in the Roanoke Valley has created the need for a
methadone clinic, according to officials at the Life Center of Galax, a
private drug rehabilitation center that plans to open a satellite clinic at
3390 Colonial Ave.

Proponents of methadone treatment call it salvation in a paper cup - a
daily dose of medication that curbs opioid addicts' cravings, wards off
withdrawal and allows them to live normal lives.

That offers little comfort to residents of Georgetown Park, a middle-class
neighborhood where opposition has been growing since the Life Center
announced its plans earlier this month.

Residents will meet at 7 p.m. Monday in the Brambleton Center to learn more
about the clinic. Based on what they've heard so far, many are against the
proposal.

"I chose this neighborhood because there are no drugs and it's a safe area,
and all of a sudden we're going to have drug addicts coming in," Merri
Romberg said. Romberg and her neighbors fear the clinic will bring crime,
traffic congestion and decreased property values to an area that is largely
insulated from the valley's drug woes.

Yet there may be little they can do to stop the clinic.

In 1989, the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors rezoned the site to allow
Dr. William Ball to operate a family medical clinic. Ball has since moved
his practice to Hardy and recently agreed to rent the vacant Colonial
Avenue building to the Life Center.

A methadone clinic, with a physician on staff to dispense drugs on an
outpatient basis, falls into the same zoning category as any other medical
clinic, according to Janet Scheid, chief planner for Roanoke County.

"It meets our definition of a medical clinic, and we don't make a
distinction between what kind of medication is given," Scheid said.

Caught by surprise by the news, some residents say they feel deceived by
Ball, who assured them in 1989 that his family practice would be a positive
addition to the neighborhood. After Ball went door to door to pitch his
plans, residents say, they agreed not to oppose the rezoning.

"The people are upset and I'm upset with them," said Roanoke County
Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix. "Because what they thought, and I thought, was a
friendly and kind gesture turned out to be the knife that stabbed them in
the back."

Ball did not return four messages left at his office over the past 10 days.

Minnix said he has talked to about 50 people who are concerned about the
methadone clinic being so close to houses, apartment complexes, and two
schools, Green Valley Elementary School and New Vista Montessori School.

Many residents resent that there was no public notice of the Life Center's
plans.

"They wanted the lease signed and the ink dry before they made the
announcement," said Mark Graham, a neighborhood resident who has been
researching the issue. Graham said officials at the Life Center have
declined an invitation to attend Monday's meeting.

"It's a continuing frustration not being able to meet with them
personally," he said. Several county officials, including Minnix, County
Administrator Elmer Hodge and County Attorney Paul Mahoney, are expected to
attend the meeting.

Deborah May, director of marketing at the Life Center, said officials
decided not to attend because other community meetings involving methadone
clinics have been "more of an accusatory type of meeting than an
educational one."

Officials at the center will submit a written statement responding to some
of the residents' questions for Monday's meeting, May said, and are
considering holding an open house at the clinic before it opens.

In earlier interviews, officials with the Life Center have said that fears
about crime associated with methadone programs are misplaced. The patients
are dedicated to getting off drugs, they said, and pose no problems to the
surrounding neighborhood.

Galax Police Chief Rick Clark confirmed that his department does not
receive an unusually large number of complaints about the clinic. Most of
the patients are from other parts of the region, he said, and don't stick
around for long.

The Galax clinic opens at 5 a.m. to accommodate out-of-town patients who
head to work after receiving their methadone.

Other areas have had less-favorable experiences. Last year, The Washington
Post reported that three methadone clinics in a northwest Washington
neighborhood created a thriving drug market where dealers targeted the
1,000-some addicts who come to the area for treatment.

There is no planned opening date for the Roanoke County clinic, as the Life
Center must still clear a number of regulatory hurdles that include
obtaining a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration and approval
by other state and federal agencies.

Once the clinic is operating at full capacity, officials expect to treat
between 200 and 300 patients. There are about 7O people from the Roanoke
Valley who drive daily to Galax or a satellite clinic in Tazewell County
for methadone. Those patients will likely be transferred to the Roanoke
clinic, and many others who could not make make the longer drive are
expected to enroll.

Many government and private studies have found that methadone is an
effective way to treat addiction to opium-based drugs, according to Mark
Parrino, president of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid
Dependence.

One study cited by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found
that during the first year of treatment, drug use declines to less than 40
percent of pretreatment levels. Drug use eventually reaches 15 percent of
prior use by patients who remain on methadone for two years or longer, the
study found.

Another study found that criminal behavior by methadone patients decreased
by 70 percent.

Some patients must remain on methadone for life, and critics say the
treatment is just replacing one addictive drug for another. Abuse of the
drug outside of clinics is also raising concerns.

For the most part, the controversy is greatest in the areas selected for
new clinics.

"The folks that run the clinic will tell you that it's squeaky clean,"
Minnix said. "It may be squeaky clean, but when the people who live there
go to sell their homes, who is going to give the fair price for a house
when it's next door to a methadone treatment clinic for drug addicts?"

Monday's meeting will be held in the community room of the Roanoke County
Brambleton Center, at 3738 Brambleton Ave. For more information, call Chief
Planner Janet Scheid or Zoning Administrator David Holladay at 772-2068.