DRUG CLINIC QUIETLY OPENS

FRAMINGHAM - This morning's opening of Spectrum's controversial Methadone
clinic went unnoticed by everyone but the handful of clients who stopped by
the downtown building for their daily medication.

The clinic at 214 Howard St. opened at 6 a.m. today to dispense methadone
to heroin addicts who live in Framingham and surrounding towns.

Despite six years of opposition from town officials, residents and Town
Meeting, there were no protesters outside the clinic, a red-brick building
with large tinted windows that could pass for an office.

"It doesn't surprise me, but I'm happy it went this way," said Frank Holt,
executive director of behavioral services for Spectrum Health Systems of
Westborough.

"I'm not used to any kind of adverse relationship with neighbors at any of
our facilities. In most cases people don't even know they are there."

A Framingham police cruiser sat outside the facility for 20 minutes around
6 a.m. and later drove by several times. Spectrum officials yesterday
reminded police of the opening.

Two security guards hired by Spectrum stood at the entrance drinking coffee.

The stillness on Howard Street is not a sign that those against the clinic
have given up, they just didn't know it was opening, said Lawrence
Schmedler, a Town Meeting member and co-chair of Framingham Is My Backyard.

"Have I changed my opinion personally? No. Has Town Meeting changed it's
opinion? Not to my knowledge," he said.

Schmedler said he can't predict future plans, but suggested the opposition
may campaign to shut the clinic down.

"The neighborhood is thoroughly against it," he said. "It's being (thrown)
on us from the outside."

The sole nurse on duty today spent no more than 10 minutes giving methadone
to four clients within the first hour of the clinic's opening. One man, a
contractor, spent most of his five minutes with the nurse talking about the
house he is working on.

Methadone is a synthetic opiate designed to help heroin addicts kick their
habit by easing withdrawal symptoms and eliminating cravings for the drug.

Spectrum officials expect roughly 40 clients who used clinics in Worcester
and Milford to switch to the Framingham facility for their daily dose of
methadone and weekly counseling. That number is expected to jump to 100
within a few weeks.

The state Department of Public Health granted Spectrum its license to
operate the clinic on June 10, four days after Selectmen voted 4-1 to
settle with Spectrum.

In the deal, the town abandoned appeals in state Land Court and Spectrum
dropped a suit that challenged the town under the Americans with
Disabilities Act.