EVERETT — The nonprofit group that will run Everett’s first methadone clinic hopes to open the facility next week.
Therapeutic Health Services had planned to open a clinic in downtown Everett several months ago, but the City Council blocked that by enacting a moratorium on new drug treatment centers in the city and then restricting them to two commercial areas south of the Boeing Freeway. The clinic is at 9930 Evergreen Way, just south of Fourth Avenue West.
The 7,500-square-foot clinic initially will serve 100 people from Snohomish County and gradually reach the state-mandated maximum of 350 patients within a few months, said Norman Johnson, director of Seattle-based Therapeutic Health Services. Almost all the patients currently use the group’s Shoreline clinic; the rest get their methadone from a clinic in Seattle.
"This means they won’t have to travel 60 miles round-trip anymore," Johnson said as he stood in the lobby of the building, copies of Vogue, Time and People already laid out on a table for clients to peruse.
Methadone is used to treat people addicted to drugs such as heroin and OxyContin.
The site is a good alternative to a downtown location because it is on a bus route, has ample parking and is big enough to house the group-counseling sessions that supplement the methadone treatment, Johnson said.
The clinic is in the Everett Business Park between a Motel 6 and a Buzz Inn restaurant.
Myke Chapin, night manager of the Buzz Inn, welcomed the facility.
"I can’t see that it would pose a problem," Chapin said. "Personally, I see it as a positive addition to the community. Maybe if they get hungry they could come here and eat."
"I’m all for helping people as long as they want help," said Jean Thomsen, 70, whose apartment patio is just behind the clinic. "And those people need help. I think it’s a good thing."
Kristine Phillips, 30, who lives in the same apartment complex as Thomsen, said she has mixed feelings about the clinic.
"If they’re helping people get off drugs, it’s OK," she said as she carried the groceries from her car with one hand and held her 3-year-old daughter’s hand with the other.
As she thought more, she added, "But it depends if people are really not into the program and are still using. I don’t want to walk down the street and have my daughter see someone poking needles in their arms."
Johnson said studies have shown that methadone clinics lead to a decrease in crime, because addicts no longer have to steal to support their habits. Police in Shoreline and Seattle said the Therapeutic Health Services clinics in those two cities have not sparked an increase in crime.
The Everett clinic will dispense methadone from 6 to 10:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday. Typically, many clients arrive early because they are on their way to work. Johnson said the back parking lot, which abuts the apartment complex, will be limited to staff and disabled clients, to limit noise for apartment dwellers.
The group had hoped to receive federal Drug Enforcement Administration approval of the clinic’s application Monday. But the DEA is withholding final approval.
The two DEA investigators who were inspecting the clinic Monday declined comment. The spokesman for the Seattle field office, Thomas O’Brien, said investigators did not brief him, and he did not know the reason for the delay.
Calvin Hightower, manager of the group’s Shoreline clinic, said the main reason for the delay was because the group had not yet given the DEA the social security number of the clinic’s doctor.
The DEA’s inspection Monday was to ensure that the clinic had the proper security to prevent theft of the medication. The safe in which the methadone is stored must be large and heavy and must have motion and heat sensors. Security cameras must be in the dosage area.
"Methadone is a highly toxic substance," Johnson said. "It’s also in great demand on the street. If people get it and use it, and they don’t know what they’re getting, they could die."
The clinic already has permits from the state and federal government.
The state has agreed to pay for the treatment of 68 clients with federal and state funds, Johnson said. The County Council probably will vote soon whether to formally accept that money.
The Shoreline and Seattle clinics have more than 300 people on their waiting lists, and the opening of the Everett clinic will free up spaces for clients from King County, Johnson said.
The new clinic also probably will attract some Snohomish County residents who have balked at the long drive to Shoreline and Seattle six mornings a week.
"We believe there are a lot of people out there who, because of the distance, continue to use" heroin or other drugs, Johnson said.
The methadone clinic would be the second in the county. In September, the Stillaguamish tribe opened one in Arlington. A San Diego company has applied to open a clinic near Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood, but it is in a court fight with the city, which is trying to block the plan.
The state substance-abuse division believes that three clinics are needed to serve the county’s residents.
"We estimate that the 1,150 spaces will be filled within six months," Johnson said of the treatment spaces that would be available if there were three clinics. "It’s just a matter of word getting around. If the Lynnwood clinic doesn’t open by then, the spaces will fill up even faster."
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com
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