LIFE CENTER TO EXPAND ONCE MORE

The Life Center of Galax is meeting resistance to its plan to open a new
methadone clinic in the Roanoke Valley area.

The drug treatment program is looking at four sites for a possible
methadone clinic to treat a burgeoning number of opiate addicts who now
must drive hours for methadone treatment, said Tina Bullins, chief
executive of The Life Center.

The growing abuse of the prescription painkiller OxyContin has created a
greater need for treatment.

The outpatient program would distribute methadone to people addicted to
powerful painkillers such as morphine, heroin and oxycodone, the active
ingredient in OxyContin.

The detoxification program could draw people from southwestern and central
Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. But already it's
raising the eyebrows of Roanoke law enforcement officials, who fear it
could bring additional crime to the area.

The Life Center, which opened in 1973, encountered a similar negative
reaction when it recently expanded its office space on Galax's Painter
Street and opened an outpatient clinic in Tazewell County last year.

Bullins is aware of the varying community sentiments and said her programs
have had mixed reactions. The center tries to educate the community before
moving in, she said, because "We want to be a good neighbor."

The center is looking at a building in Fincastle and two in Roanoke County,
but Bullins said she could not identify them. "We are in the development
stage. We haven't initiated a lease with anybody but there is some property
we are considering."

Methadone is a legal, synthetic opioid that has been used for decades as a
substitute for heroin and other addictive painkillers. Regular oral
consumption of the drug blocks heroin withdrawal symptoms, one of the
biggest hurdles for addicts to overcome when they try to quit the drug.

Although it is as addictive as heroin, methadone is much less likely to get
addicts "high" than illegally abused opiates, and it allows them to lead
relatively normal lives because a single dose is effective for about 24 hours.

But methadone itself is tightly controlled, and treatment requires addicts
to visit the clinics several times per week to pick up their doses. Bullins
said 98 percent of the Life Center's clients are abusers of prescription
narcotics. OxyContin is their drug of choice, she said.

Not many law enforcement officials or residents want methadone clinics in
their communities, saying the drug addicts they attract usually lead to
increased crime.

One sheriff said crimes such as breaking and entering and burglary
increased in areas where methadone clinics opened.

The Galax Police Department reported that, in most cases, crime in the
residential neighborhood around The Life Center couldn't be linked to the
treatment facility. Parking and traffic are the biggest concerns.

Bullins said the western part of the state has a big need for a clinic that
uses methadone.

"There are people who need the service and can't get it," Bullins said,
adding that between 50 and 70 percent of the nearly 700 patients come to
Galax from the Roanoke and New River Valley areas.

Until a clinic recently opened in Charlottesville, The Life Center operated
the only methadone detox facility west of Richmond. More than half its
patients drive more than two hours for treatment, Bullins said. "We are
trying to figure out where we need to be to reduce driving time," since
some patients must come to the clinic daily for the first 30 days of treatment.