Life Center Considering Four Valley Sites

METHADONE CLINIC COULD DRAW DRUG ADDICTS FROM 4 STATES TO ROANOKE VALLEY
FOR TREATMENT

More Than Half Of The Nearly 700 Patients At A Galax Clinic Come From The
Roanoke And New River Valley Areas.

The growing abuse of the addictive painkiller OxyContin could spawn a new
business in the Roanoke Valley, but it's not the kind that economic
development officials like to crow about.

A Galax drug treatment program is looking at four Roanoke Valley sites for
a possible methadone clinic to treat a burgeoning number of opiate addicts
who now must drive hours for methadone treatment.

The Life Center of Galax is assessing the needs in the Roanoke Valley for a
substance abuse treatment clinic for opiate addiction, Tina Bullins, chief
executive. 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 local law enforcement officials, who fear it could
bring additional crime to the area.

A former Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall in Troutville has been removed from
consideration after Botetourt County planning officials determined the site
would have to be rezoned.

"We are in the development stage. We haven't initiated a lease with anybody
but there is some property we are considering," Bullins said in a telephone
interview.

The center also is looking at a building in Fincastle and two in Roanoke
County, but Bullins said she could not identify them.

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. They said OxyContin is their drug of choice, she said.

Rumors about a methadone clinic in Troutville resulted in calls from
residents to the Sheriff's Office. At one point, Botetourt Zoning
Administrator Chuck Supan was called to the hall by a couple of residents
who reported that methadone was being distributed. When he arrived, he
found several empty cars in the parking lot.

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

Concerned about the clientele a methadone clinic would draw, Sheriff Ronnie
Sprinkle said, "I think it would be a mistake to bring one here." Sprinkle
said other sheriffs have told him crimes such as breaking and entering and
burglary increase in areas where methadone clinics have opened.

"I don't feel comfortable with it. We don't have a problem here. If we can
stop it before it gets here, we should," Sprinkle said.

The privately operated Life Center opened its residential facility in Galax
in 1973 and 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."

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 percent and 70 percent of the nearly 700 patients
come from the Roanoke and New River Valley areas.

Until a clinic recently opened in Charlottesville, Life Center operated the
only methadone detox facility west of Richmond. More than half of 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.