ARM-ME BLOG

Why can’t more people think the way these college students think???

What’s The Deal With The Methadone Clinic Next Door To The Dakota?

http://media.www.gwhatchet.com/media/storage/paper332/news/2008/11/10/Life/Whats.The.Deal.With.the.Methadone.Clinic.Next.To.The.Dakota-3534544.shtml?pop

By Alex Schneider

November 11, 2008  George Washington University  Residents of The Dakota are often bewildered to step outside their residence hall in the morning and into a crowd of former heroin addicts.

The group on the corner of 21st and F streets mainly includes clients of Partners in Drug Abuse Rehabilitation and Counseling, a methadone clinic located next to The Dakota in 2112 F Street.

It is an odd sight in a residential neighborhood populated mostly by college students, and some neighbors question the clinic’s placement – though it has existed there for almost 20 years.

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s fact sheet, methadone is a medication that curbs withdrawal and dependence symptoms by blocking receptors in the brain accustomed to an opioid, usually heroin.

For students, the clinic is an opportunity for some interesting eavesdropping as the patients wait for rides on the corner.

“They have all these crazy conversations,” said Junior Like McQueen. “I think someone once used code to tell someone else he was going to use drugs out back.”

Michael Akin, GW’s director of community relations, said the University is not overly concerned about the clinic.

“A few years ago a couple of people in the neighborhood asked if we could weigh in either for or against the clinic,” Akin said. “We asked the question among the students, and no one could really point to any problems that stemmed from it.”

The community at large has not been so receptive.

Elizabeth Elliot, a recently retired member of the Foggy Bottom Association, said the clinic “has had ups and downs” since it moved to its current location.

“There’s been ongoing problems with the park across the street,” she said. “It’s been a major conduit for clients and kind of a hang-out for vagrants.”

Ron Cocum, the former president of the FBA (Foggy Bottom Association), said he also disagrees with the clinic’s presence in Foggy Bottom.

“We think it’s a wholly inappropriate location for it, being in a residential neighborhood,” he said. “We’ve never been pleased with it.”

The clinic’s lease does not expire until 2011, so it will not likely be moved in the near future, said Pete Hill-Bryne, the property’s director of commercial leasing.

GW alumnus Kris Hart, a GW alumnus owner of Relaxed Tanning, the day spa and tanning salon located directly across from the clinic, confessed that he was concerned about the clinic when he bought the space for his business, but he has not encountered any problems with it.

“They don’t crap in their own backyard,” Hart said of the patients. “They come, they get on a bus, they leave.”

But Hart also does not see the motivation behind the location.

“I don’t get why it is in this neighborhood, because it doesn’t really serve the neighborhood,” he said.

Though the clinic is not a hot spot for Foggy Bottom residents, the building is home almost exclusively to doctor’s offices, clinics and other health facilities.

The Foundation for Contemporary Mental Health – the parent organization of the clinic – is also located in the building. Its president, Howard Hoffman, declined requests to be interviewed.

Patients of the clinic, who were interviewed by the Hatchet, declined to be identified because they did not want to be associated with drugs.

One client, who has been going to the clinic before it relocated to Foggy Bottom, said that methadone is probably issued to “at least 100″ patients every day. The clinic supplements this treatment with regular counseling.

Another client said he had been given “another chance to live.”

The man said being treated on campus is an opportunity to speak to students and that he is eager to preach the lessons his mistakes have taught him, like “don’t be a fool, stay in school.”

Parents Lead Outcry Against Proposed Site

http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x1751715098/Clinic-plan-denied

By Gerry Tuoti

November 13, 2008 Taunton, MA.  Siding with the overwhelming public sentiment in the meeting room, the Zoning Board of Appeals Thursday denied a controversial permit request for a methadone clinic that would treat recovering drug addicts, agreeing that such a facility should not be located just down the street from an elementary school.  (Yeah. Their kids might turn to drugs just by looking at the patients! What the F*@K)!!!

Speaking against the project, James Panziac, a parent of an East Taunton Elementary School student, said the location of the proposed clinic, which would be just over 1,000 feet from the school, was the focal point of his opposition. “They cannot promise me that there won’t be an incident,” he said. “When my child’s safety is an issue, I want a guarantee.” (Whose going o give him a guarantee that his child won’t need a methadone clinic when he gets older? Not that I wish drug addiction on anyone, but how many guarantee’s are there in this world we live in)?

Although the clinic cannot move into the 73 Stevens St. Property, it could potentially locate somewhere else in the city.

Thomas Magaraci, CEO of Habit OPCO, Inc., the company that runs the methadone clinics, said the program, which serves 6,000 patients in four states, has a 90% success rate. Methadone is a clinically administered drug that helps abusers of heroin and some other drugs kick their addictions and overcome withdrawals. Habit OPCO uses a liquid form of methadone that patients drink in the presence of a nurse.

“These are not people who use drugs,” Magaraci said. “These are people who want to turn their lives around.”

The matter came before the ZBA because the property in question is zoned for industrial use. JAMINS LLC, which owns the building on the corner of Stevens Street and O’Connell Way, wanted to lease the property to Habit OPCO, but a zoning variance would have to be granted for the clinic to start up.

The move would have provided Habit OPCO, which currently serves 140 patients at a mobile unit at Taunton State Hospital, with a more permanent facility. It would have also allowed for counseling services, which currently take place at a Brockton facility.

Magaraci said the Brockton facility is across the street from an elementary school and has not had any serious incidents. Opponents, however, pointed out that the clinic is also just down the street from the Brockton police station.

“I frankly don’t care about Brockton,” ZBA member Gill Enos said. “I care about Taunton. This is a necessary service in Taunton, it’s just a bad location.”

The busiest time of the day for the clinic is between 6 and 9 a.m., Magaraci said. ZBA member Tony Medeiros, who is also a vice detective with the Taunton police, said he thinks there’s a reason for that besides accommodating people’s work schedules.

“People on heroin, when they wake up, they need to get high so they don’t feel dope sick,” Medeiros said.

When questioned by the board, clinic nurse Amy Medeiros admitted that “one or two” people a month typically show up to the clinic impaired.

Attorney Marc Antine, representing Habit OPCO, reiterated that nearly all the patients are good people who are trying to turn their lives around. “These are not the people you’d see on ‘Law and Order’ or in a gallery of rouges,” Antine said. “These are not people who are looking to buy drugs from drug dealers.”

More than 100 people crammed into the council chambers at City Hall for the ZBA meeting. Dozens who couldn’t fit in the room spilled out into the hallways. Whenever a speaker made a point against locating the clinic near the school, they were greeted by a loud burst of applause.

Many people, including parents, neighbors, police officers and city officials spoke out. “It’s a fine program,” School Committeeman Peter H. Corr said. “I just feel the location they want is not the location it should be placed at.”   (Nobody wants a methadone clinic “In Their Backyard.” So where do they propose they should be located”?)