Hoquiam drug treatment clinic to open mid-April
By Amelia Dickson, The Daily World, Aberdeen, Wash. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The clinic will provide local patients the opportunity to maintain normal, healthy lifestyles while receiving treatment, said
"If you spend that many hours a day for dosing, how do you spend any time with education and employment?" Malmer said. "You're spending all your time in a van. What a terrible way to live."
The clinic will be located at
Prospective patients can learn more about the program by calling the company's
Patients at the
Carney said visiting the facility on a daily basis gives the patients a sense of stability, and they're more likely to be successful. But the treatment isn't just medicinal. Patients will be required to attend weekly counselling sessions. Addictions to tobacco and marijuana will also be addressed in counselling sessions.
A monthly drug screening will also be required to make sure patients are staying on track. Positive drug tests will lead to changes in the individual patient's program, but patients will be turned away if they test positive nine times in 12 months. Patients are given some leniency because their chances of success are higher if they stay in the program longer.
"It's true, the longer someone stays in treatment the better off they are," Carney said.
But that doesn't mean treatment is necessarily a cure. Some patients are able to stop using Methadone and Suboxone after four or five years, others remain in treatment for decades.
"Opioid dependence is really considered a chronic medical condition at this time, similar to hypertension or diabetes," Malmer said.
Treatment can, however, help people with addictions lead normal lives, Carney said.
Patients will only visit the clinic during morning hours --
At a
"To be honest, my officers are not thrilled with this program at all," Myers said.
But Carney said local law enforcement won't have to worry about the clinic. Safety officers will monitor the site from inside and outside, and medications will be stored in a safe.
"We have not had an issue in any of our clinics, and we hope that will be the case here," Carney said.
Malmer, whose department oversees drug treatment clinics statewide, said he hasn't received any complaints from law enforcement regarding
"We just are not getting the complaints you might expect," Malmer said.
Carney and her staff hope to announce an opening date soon. A total of 14 employees will work at the clinic, most of whom are from
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