Pubdate: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 Source: Register-Herald, The (Beckley, WV) Copyright: 2004 The Register-Herald Contact: http://www.register-herald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1441 Author: Dann White STOP TRYING TO FIX WHAT'S NOT BROKEN Prior to the opening of West Virginia's first methadone maintenance clinic in Charleston three years ago, that city was gripped by a burgeoning trade in heroin and OxyContin. Treatment options were abysmal and local officials were at a loss for what to do. An Indiana company, seeing the potential for its product, came to town and persisted in efforts to open a clinic ... The first clinic opened in January 2001 just outside the capital city. Overnight the heroin and OxyContin markets collapsed, not just in Charleston but in outlying communities as well. Within two years there were seven clinics statewide. Part of the reason for this success was a set of federal MMT regulations that were enacted in 2001, bringing the best that MMT has to offer to clinics around the country. These regulations cover all areas of operation, including drug-testing of patients and strict controls on take-home medication. Now a Mercer County physician, cheered on by his colleagues who own and operate a Mercer treatment program with no methadone program, want the state to get in the business of telling clinics how they should operate. They have thrown around rhetoric about for-profit owners and patients selling methadone hoping to strike fear about this exciting new (to West Virginia) treatment in the hearts of West Virginians. The delegate doctor and his fellow detractors are, of course, for profit entities themselves and their logic seems to ignore the fact that MMT has brought a movement of addicts into treatment at their own expense at a time when public dollars for these purposes are hard to find. West Virginians should oppose House Bill 4387 and tell the Legislature to stop trying to fix what is not broken. Dann White Chesapeake Jumping Branch Princeton - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake