War Liberal

I've been watching this story for a while and the ignorance and prejudice surrounding it drives me nuts. My dad did an internship at an outpatient treatment facility while completing graduate work and he says that many of these people are normal folks with families and jobs who've had a run of bad luck. Often, they've had back problems or been in MVA's, which necessitated the extended use of pain medication, and they became dependent. It's the folks who are seeking help voluntarily (like the ones this facility would treat) that I'd want in my back yard.

Not to mention, this facility would serve people already living in Shelby County. Shelby residents who have to drive to Jefferson or other counties for treatment now might have a higher compliance rate with a local facility. That means a healthier population, fewer addicts, and fewer people breaking into the neighborhood CVS for a fix (and maybe avoiding a Hoover-style drugstore shootout).

BTW, Mac: Surprised you missed the go-to title for this post "Methadoom!"

What if we combined some stuff? I think the Jeffco commissioners would see a clear need for the Methadome. There'd be funding coming in from everywhere!

We might even get the NFL ...

Can methadone be used to treat steroid users?

I think it's the "bar, restaurant, and hair salon" think that gets me. I mean, we can't have drug addicts hassling our alcohol consumers.

From what I can google, the objection isn't so much to the addicts as to opportunistic drug dealers who sometimes hang out around the place trying to get the clients to fall off the wagon. The parking lot thus becomes a less than safe place. Some clinics have experienced this problem, others not. I would imagine that locating a clinic right next to a bar would tend to compound the problem if anything. Sorry to sound so illiberal.

If that's the case, the city could make approval contingent upon the owners providing appropriate security.

Theoretically, I can see the rationale about the clinic's proximity to a bar (which extrapolates to restaurants that have a bar) but it seems it's more likely to be used to justify an objection based on fear/prejudice than out of concern for the clients. If true concern for the clients existed among the community, the facility would get built somehow.

But what's the hair salon beef? Is an addict going to sniff permanent solution? Or get an ill-considered new 'do?

No tattoos, no contractual agreements and no perms while under the influence.

I've used "Methadon't" before when blogging about objections to methadone clinics. Anyway, there's actually some legitimate arguments against methadone clincs on the grounds that you are just taking one kind of addiction and replacing it with another. I'm no expert on the matter so I really can't judge but seems to me that someone being addicted to methaone and being functional is a hell of a lot better to being addicted to heroin and being non-functional.