An application for a proposed methadone clinic to be located just outside Monterey town limits has been put on hold for a second time because of a technicality.

A pubic hearing that had been scheduled for Sept. 16 at Monterey High School and a hearing in Nashville, that had been set for late October has also been put on hold.

 “The public hearing has been delayed,”Melanie Hill, Executive Director, of Health Services and Development Agency, said, “because it is expected that Private Clinic Monterey will withdraw its application.  It will be rescheduled if the application is re-filed.”

 But that action is not keeping the Putnam and Cumberland County Commissions and other governments from voicing strong opposition to the proposed clinic.

A resolution on the agendas of both county commissions says that methadone is “a synthetic opioid which produces many of the same effects in drug addicts as morphine and heroin” and is “increasingly being abused by drug users for recreation an is causing an alarming increase in overdoses and deaths”; and “contrary to popular belief, methadone is a highly addictive drug, which could easily end up on the streets of Putnam County and other ares in the Upper Cumberland”; and “the probability of any positive affects to the health care system, economy or recovering drug users in our area is unlikely”; and “there are already several drug treatment facilities available for the citizens of Putnam County and the Upper Cumberland area which include Bradford Heath, Cumberland Plateau Recovery, Recovery Living, Med Solutions and Volunteer Behavioral Health,”; and “because these facilities are already established and available to the citizens of Putnam County and the Upper Cumberland Area, there is not a need for a methadone clinic.”

Owners of the methadone clinic, called Private Clinic Monterey, plan to build the approximate $970,000 facility at 16168 Crossville Highway.

The address is near Walker Farms Rd. The purpose of the clinic is to “assist opioid addicted patients to abstain from the use of illicit drugs through detoxification, treatment and substance abuse/psychiatric counseling services.

It is a private for profit outpatient clinic without state, federal or local funding.” It will serve the adult population in Putnam County and surrounding counties.

J. Paul Connell, CEO of the proposed clinic, told the Hilltop Express in a story that ran in the May 15, 2008 edition, that his clinic Private Clinic North, in Rossville, GA., already treats around 228 patients from Putnam and surrounding counties.

“We treat everyone from minimum wage earners to doctors and lawyers,” he said. The majority of Private Clinic  patients have gotten addicted to prescription drugs such as:  Codeine, Dilaudid, Heroin, Hydrocodone, Lortab, Lorcet, Percocet, Percodan, Morphine, Oxycodone, and Oxycotin.

Connell said, “Its a treatment, not a cure. Its much like insulin is a treatment for diabetes; or eyeglasses for bad eyes. They don’t cure, but they help.”

“With the cost of gasoline going up,” Connell said, “its getting to where the cost of transportation for those patients are more than the cost of the treatment. If we can get up there into the Monterey community, it would be easier for our patients.”  Connell said that he has already bought a home in the area for his family.

Property records show that Connell Properties bought the 7.83 acres  where the Methadone clinic is planned over a year ago, in May, 2007.

Connell told the Hilltop Express, “I thought about it and prayed about it. Now, its time to build it.” He said that while doctors and nurses will mostly come from the present clinics, others could be hired locally. He said the payroll for the clinic would be from $1.3 to $1.6 million. More information about what the clinic offers can be found on the Internet at:
www.privateclinicnorth.com.