METHADONE CLINIC ISSUE TO BE TOPIC OF MEETING

NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Health Facilities Commission is scheduled
to consider a certificate of need application for a proposed
methadone clinic to be located in Johnson City at its meeting here on
June 26.

"At that time, the commission will approve, deny or defer the matter
for up to 70 days if they feel more information is needed," HFC
Executive Director Melanie Hill said Friday.

Johnson City Addiction and Treatment Center LLC, has filed a
certificate of need application to establish a non-residential
treatment facility, which would offer drug and alcohol addiction
treatment services, at 200 W. Fairview Ave.

Methadone is synthetically manufactured and used as a substitute for
the treatment of people dependent on heroin and other opiates.

Johnson City Public Safety Director Charles Harmon said in February
that city commissioners have made two major objections to previous
attempts at bringing such clinics to Johnson City.

The first objection, Harmon said, is over the philosophical questions
regarding treatments offered by methadone clinics.

"At one time, there were even doctors from Watauga Mental Health
Center that came in (to a City Commission meeting) to argue against
using drugs to treat drug addiction," Harmon said.

The second major objection, the director said, is to the people
attracted to cities with these clinics. Harmon said laws require
methadone clinics to be at least 100 miles apart, so the area could
begin attracting addicts from numerous areas.

"Some of (these addicts) may become involved in local crime," he said.

Rusty Titsworth, director of operations for The Middle Tennessee
Treatment Center and the Memphis Center for Research and Addiction
Treatment, the group that would run the clinic, said the group works
closely with Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee at
Memphis.

"We are working on developing similar affiliations and associations
in Johnson City," Titsworth said in February.