methadone clinic

[Maine-ah]

just wanted some opinions here. there are a couple of people in my town planning on opening a methadone clinic (for profit). This clinic will be less than 500 ft. away from the Head Start School, and across the street from where I work. Directly behind the clinic is a residential neighborhood. The woman who wants to open it has been on methadone for 14yrs! It doesn't seem like it should work that way. So, does anyone else here have any experience with a methadone clinic in their area, or participated in a methadone program that might have some opinions on this? Here is a link where you can read some of my community's opinions http://knox.villagesoup.com/opinions/

[commander bunnypants]

1. it can work

recidivism is pretty high though. 14 years. dunno about that

CB

[NJ_Lib]

2. I'm sorry to tell you...

It's not the clinic that's the problem, it's what goes on outside of the building that should worry you...

It's like one big drug dealing playground outside... Dealers know they will get rid of their products in one hour if they hang there in the morning, waiting for addicts to show up for their methadone... I used to have to drive a family member every morning, so I have lots of experience with this... I used to walk her in there and walk her back to the car. If I let her go alone, that would be the end of her sobriety

[flamingyouth]

8. I lived near one for 12 years and that was my experience

The clinic offered all kinds of services, including AA and Al-Anon meetings, and I know the staff did everything in their power to control what was going on outside, but it was a constant problem.

[madrchsod]

3. not a good idea that close to a

head start school. for profit? good luck to her i`ve quite a bit experince with junkies and that`s not a good area for a clinic.

[Maine-ah]

7. not closing

head start, the building they will be renting is right up the road from proposed clinic. from what I understand is that sometimes you are allowed to take your dose with you, which case people sell their dose and get what ever the drug of choice is. I am seeing it as people are switching one addiction for another. Currently people here have to drive abt. two hours to get meth treatment.

[skygazer]

4. No experience

But I've never understood the rationale of trading one addiction for another. If someone has been on methadone for 14 years, that strikes me as a problem. (and no, I'm not speaking as someone who has no idea what it's like to face addiction - I'll be ten years clean on my birthday this year - cold turkey. My present to myself)

[Heyo]

16. The notion of trading one addiciton for another...

... although I don't agree with using Methadone, now that Buprenex is available....

...but the idea of switching over to methadone, was not nesicarilly to end the addiciton, it DOES trade one for another.

But it takes people away from a situation where they have to get money, rob, steal, do whataver they have to do... to buy street opiates of unknown purity and potency, and have to IV inject them... into a situation where they can take one dose orally of a long-acting opioid once per day and can focus on getting their lives in order while they gradually taper the methadone down. Basically it rescues the person from the get money, score, shoot, get money, score, shoot cycle that their lives have become. I know people who have got clean that way, and despite the fact they are still physically opioid addicted, there is NO better releif than being free of that horrible cycle, and knowing you will not get dope sick, and can begin to start to live your life. Opiate addicts don't do it because they like it, they do it to avoid getting dope-sick. (More horrible than your mind can comprehend unless you've lived it)

It's not the best method, but it has saved countless lives.

Now there is Buprenex, which can be given to mitigate withdrawl symptoms, but is not addictive on it's own when used in that sense and can be discontinued within about 10 days of start of treatment with no ill physical effects.

Heyo

[skygazer]

18. I don't need to imagine being dope sick.

I know all about it. But thanks for the explanation. :hi:

[Heyo]

23. right on, friend....

Heyo! :hi:

[chelsea0011]

5. I don't like the Park Street location.

It is neighborhood. I'm not against facilities to help people but why the hell are residents always the ones to bear the brunt? This always happens when business zoning abuts residences. Usually these zoning laws are as old as the hills and never have conformed as the neighborhoods change. Is the need that great in Rockland? If there aren't clinics close by, the town can become a magnet for treatment. I've always thought hospitals would be a better location for treatment facilities. But I guess that makes too much sense. Mid-Coast Hospital should be the place. Not some for profit clinic in someone's back yard.

I may be from Mass. but Owls Head/Rockland is my home away from home.

[Maine-ah]

9. owner

of building is in New Hampshire, she says she doesn't care, just wants to rent building

[chelsea0011]

10. That's a killa....an absentee landlord

Doesn'give a hoots ass about HER neighborhood. A

[Heyo]

15. "bear the bunt" of what?

Ther is nothing to bear, really. The people there are not some kind of monsters that are going to ravage your neighborhood. They just want to do what they've gotta do and be left alone. The deserve compassion, if everybody pushed them away, where will they go?

Addiction can happen to ANYBODY.. faster than you can imagine and before you know what hit you. They deserve some compassion.

Heyo

[Phillycat]

6. Not a good idea.

You will have a very bad element hanging out outside at all hours of the day and night. You will also have needles on the street. (The recidivism rate is high and junkies will use wherever they are.)

I am speaking as a recovering alcoholic and drug addict.

[Heyo]

14. Not true from my experience..

... and I am also speaking from the standpoint of having been there.

I don't see the "bad element" at all with methadone clinic patients....

I see what I described below, people lined up for the 4 or so hours the place is open early in the morning, who are given their methadone and then leave.

Having a nudie bar or some place like that nearby is a lot worse than a methadone clinic or rehab center.

Heyo

[Phillycat]

22. My experience with the methadone clinic I used to live near...

Is that junkies and their friends hung out in the streets around it, and so did dealers. When junkies decided they wanted to use, they used right there, behind a little cement pylon thingie.

It may be different in different places, but I wouldn't take that chance near a school. Just MHO.

[AngryAmish]

11. People need treatment, but....

The methadone clinic down the block is just nasty. But, it is a commercial area and they don't hurt my business.

[noonwitch]

12. I never lived near one, but I did live near porno theaters and titty bars

That really is the worst, because of all the prostitution and related crimes, including drugs. This is the Woodward/McNichols area of Detroit/Highland Park. Kids had to walk by these places on their way to school. The churches in the area have joined forces to try to move them out, to no avail. Those places need to be zoned out of residential neighborhoods, too.

The drag queen prostitutes were interesting, however, and usually pretty nice to me when I would see them walking by. I can see why sometimes men get duped, some were very convincing and looked more female than Ann Coulter.

[Heyo]

13. There is no harm to having..

.. a methadone clinic near anything.

The people there don't want any trouble.

They just line up, early in the morning, get their methadone and leave.

They are regular people just like you and me, who are in a bad situation, and just want to get their lives together.

Heyo

[stupid grin]

17. I'm so freaking clueless

Methodone helps somebody become "un-addicted" to heroine? Could somebody explain what exactly methodone does for a person?

[slackmaster]

20. Methadone kills withdrawal symptoms without producing much of a high

It's a narcotic analgesic, but with fewer mind-altering effects than morphine or heroin.

[slackmaster]

19. You're not supposed to have to stay on methadone forever

n/t

[Maine-ah]

21. methadone clinic

the person who wants to open this clinic has been on it for 14yrs! It seems to me that it's replacing one addiction, for another.