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UPDATE
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I have confirmed that the clinic has been evicted. To my knowledge this means the only other functioning methadone clinic in the District is on NY Ave in the Shaw area. I have also confirmed that clinic reps were on hand to refer patients to other locations. I have not yet learned the reason for the eviction.
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UPDATE
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The reason was non-payment of rent. Apparently relevant agencies came into remove confidential data (including anything on computers) prior to the eviction. This is good news because some neighborhood residents and passing motorists were seen scooping up computers and office equipment from outside the clinic.
38 comments:
"The" meth clinic? Is this another case of everyone in the neighborhood being completely ambivilent to the fact that there's an illegal drug operation going on?
I could be reading this wrong... is a meth "clinic" a place for addicts to go for recovery or something?
umm, yeah. you should probably retitle this post. There is a rather large difference between a "meth clinic" and a methadone clinic.
just an fyi, a methadone clinic is where people who have a clinical addiction to heroin can go to get a prescibed dose of methadone under medical supervision as a replacement therapy.
see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methadone_clinic
Yep--they go get that little bump, then go off to find a real herion dealer to get the rest of their fix a bit cheaper than they otherwise would. It's a great system!
Anon 11:23: you seem to know a lot about how this works. Would getting high in this fashion cause one to forget how "heroin" is spelled?
This eviction is great news!
When they open a similar clinic in wards 3 or 4, I'll support one coming back to ward 5.
Curmudgeon,
That is a GREAT point about the spelling. I consider myself vanquished.
--11:23
lets share the (sic)buden, it's a methadone clinic, not a Restoration Hardware- they try to put the clinics where they'll be most useful to those that need them. If there are scores of Ward 3&4 residents who are trekking down here for treatment you would have a valid point, otherwise it smacks on NIMBYism.
But I don't want it in my backyard. What's wrong with that?
i want them in my backyard...... raking the leaves and pruning my trees. after that, i want them to go back to whatever hellhole they came from.
It's easy to scream NIMBY, but there has historically been a tendency to dump social services providers into Wards 5 and 6, and to keep them as far away from Wards 2, 3, and 4 as possible. Even Ward 1 manages to push them out with the help of Jim Graham.
Jack Evans would much prefer to house the homeless in Res 13 than near downtown office buildings where they might upset his favorite developers, even though the homeless might prefer to be downtown and are forced to travel to the RFK area. Jim Graham managed to swing the multi-million dollar land deal for Central Union Mission at the Gales School near Union Station rather than have them locate on Georgia Avenue in Ward 1 after they sold their Logan Circle Shelter. That's going to be tied up in court forever and leaving the homeless, well, homeless. There are even plans to close the city's main shelter at 2nd and E. Where are they going to place those people? Cleveland Park?
There is a statistically disproportionate number of halfway houses, drug treatment centers, homeless shelters, etc. throughout Wards 5 and 6. There are few in some other wards, even though they have substance abuse problems, hospitals that offer treatment programs, jobs, and good transportation. It's hard to get an exact count because the city doesn't keep one.
For those interested, Methodone is a proven way to help individuals kick heroine, in addition when taking methodone regularly it essentially blocks the effects of ingesting heroine. This is what makes it such a useful tool. You would be surprised if you knew how many productive members of society visited methodone clinics.
As a new arrival to the neighborhood, I say good riddance! Let the junkies go to PG county.
But why *shouldn't* social services for Ward 5 residents be in Ward 5?
Hey idiots - some - not many, but some - of the people that go to that clinic were there for chronic pain treatment, not drug addiction. Don't be so quick to think you know everything. Also, there are several other operating Methadone Clinics in DC icluding one in Foggy Bottom (Ward 2??). Hope you enjoy that big vacant building - a perfect new giant crackhouse for Trinidad.
Wow, you people are rather stupid aren't you? Someone actually had to tell you what a methadone clinic was? And then you celebrate the closing of a clinic whose methods have been proven to get people off drugs? Nice group.
Methadone doesn't "get people off drugs." It IS a drug, just not an illegal one, unless you buy it outside of a program. It is actually more addictive than heroin and withdrawal is more severe. Its advantage is that it stays in the body longer so a single daily dose is sufficient, it doesn't have to be injected, and it's can be obtained legally. The downside is that it doesn't provide euphoria, so some don't stay on methadone maintenance, and go back out. They'll even sell their daily dose to get money for heroin which is why it is dispensed under supervision in clinics.
Anon 2:35:
As a new arrival, maybe you shouldn't have moved here if you didn't like the demographics of the neighborhood.
There are so many misconceptions here it's hard to know where to begin to address them all.
I am a 45 year old married mom of three boys. I live in my own home in the suburbs, work full time, and have a college degree. I volunteer my time to help others and I attend church. I attend school functions and help out wherever needed. And, I am a methadone patient.
The assumption that methadone patients are raggedy bums--homeless, jobless, on welfare and out to rob, pillage and plunder--is vastly mistaken. In fact the majority of these patients today are in treatment for prescription drug addiction, not heroin use, and they come from ALL walks of life. I know patients who are attorneys, nurses, business owners, etc.
In addition, methadone is NOT "more addictive than heroin". In fact, methadone provides a very weak high to those with no opiate tolerance and none at all to those who DO have a tolerance, and was never widely abused until very recently when it began being used for pain mgmt and teens began finding it in home medicine cabinets and experiemnting with it. Methadone maintenace pts do not get high from their medication. It simply replaces the missing endorphins no longer being produced by the brain, in the same way that insulin replaces the insulin no longer being produced by the diabetic pancreas. Some may only need short term treatment--others, who may have sustained permanent brain chemistry damage from long term opioid use, may need long term therapy.
Calling a methadone clinic a "meth clinic" is a huge misnomer--"meth" is a term usually used to describe methamphetamine--a street stimulant cooked up in clandestine speed labs, very dangerous to both mind and body. When people her "meth clinic" they often assume this harmful street drug is being given out to addicts. At the least, it is a perjorative and ugly term.
Methadone treatment is far and away the most effective therapy for opioid addiction, and represents most opiate addicts' best chance at living a normal life. No amount of abstinence based talk therapy or support groups can repair a brain chemistry disorder, which many opioid addicts have.
Ironically, most communities welcome AA and NA meetings at churches, schools, libraries, etc even though many such attendees are still using or have relapsed and their success rate is abysmal compared to methadone treatment.
The downside is that it doesn't provide euphoria
but that's the point! In addition to blocking the euphoric effects of heroin the user doesn't suffer from intense physical withdrawal symptoms as they would if they tried to kick cold turkey and can be weaned off heroin. I'm pretty sure that methadone treatment has the highest success rate of all treatments.
The original post briefly said meth clinic (but the post also said methadone twice) because I was excitedly exchanging texts with friends and neighbors who already know that this is a methadone clinic. There is NO SUCH THING as a clinic that dispenses methamphetamine.
Well... no such thing as an officially-sanctioned clinic that dispenses methamphetamine, anyway.
"some neighborhood residents and passing motorists were seen scooping up computers and office equipment from outside the clinic."
Sigh. Of course they were. If it's not locked down, it's free, right?
(and sometimes, even if it _is_ locked down)
Your assessment of the website is off. I think you all are failing to read properly. Go to the home page of hstreet.org click on "Click for details" . That brings you to a page for the 2009 festival. The top of the page clearly says "September 19 2009". If you read further the second paragraph says, "On September 20th of 2008, HSMS hosted.....". Did you read that correctly? "Hosted" is past tense. This is telling about what happened last year an a prelude to what will happen this year. Wake up before you start reading and complaining.
Anon 6:29 -- "Wake up before you start reading and complaining." ? An excellent closing to your post, given that you sleepily posted it in the wrong thread.
The thread I did post it to has expired smartguy.
But now is magically back.
Charles: Like it or not, we are changing the demographic. Do you really enjoy having junkies begging for change and shooting up in alleys in your neighborhood?
I used to live near the methadone clinic in Foggy Bottom, and although there didn't seem to be any violent crime associated with its presence in the neighborhood, there is no doubt that it contributed to a high concentration of loiterers, panhandlers and vagrants in the general area, all of which are crimes, albeit minor ones. So, one certainly could make the claim that its presence did increase the level of criminal activity in the neighborhood. A simple occasional DCPD patrol to roust the loiterers could have done wonders to ameliorate this. That certainly would have resulted in a much more favorable neighborhood attitude towards its presence.
Actually, atlastdude, there is no law against loitering in DC. Ask any MPD officer you like -- they'll be quite clear with you on this.
There are methadone clinics in various parts of the District, the presence of which denizens (other than neighbors) are not aware. Most are recovery centers with outpatient treatment facilities and are not inundated with illicit drug activity reminiscent of that over at Big Ben Liquors in Truxton Circle.
"A simple occasional DCPD patrol to roust the loiterers could have done wonders to ameliorate this."
Except that loitering isn't illegal in the District...
I stand corrected. Evidently the DC anti-loitering law was struck down. I had no idea. Thanks for setting me straight on this one. I am in favor of this since anti-loitering laws are usually so vague that they give the police the perogative to stop and harass anyone they like.
There IS still a law prohibiting panhandling, open countainers of alcohol and urination in public.
There's no law against panhandling either, only 'aggressive panhandling'.
Aggressive panhandling? Doesn't that constitute being mugged? Or does being mugged not count when the assailant is "economically disadvantaged" and "domicile challanged"? Have to make sure we don't discriminate or unfairly characterize people, don't we?
Of course "aggressive panhandling" doesn't apply if you're a lobbyist or General Motors...
I just realized today that since I live in between Swampoodle and the Atlas district, you could say that I live in SWAMP-ASS :-)
methodone clinics are for addicts. a variety of 'em.
i still don't want them in my neighborhood. i don't care how pretty you try to paint them.
go somewhere else. i don't care where, just make sure it's as far away as possible.
that's how most people see it. so bite me if you want to throw me into some "nimby" category.
go.away. methodone addicts. maybe we should open up a facility to help prostitutes in the newly available space?
take that with your cheerios....
And I don't want jackasses in my neighborhood. Go away jackass.
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