In the 1970s, when methadone clinics were expanding rapidly, there were 
many scandals about lax administration and drug dealing.  A New York 
Times reporter was admitted to a methadone program and given methadone 
without evidence of addiction to heroin, for example, in a widely 
reported story.  Hustlers sold clean urine samples, methadone users 
traded "spit-backs" for cocaine or other drugs,  and the areas around 
clinics became staging areas, where deals for drugs or criminal 
escapades could be planned.  Generally clinics were sited in areas of 
high drug use, and as Camilo Vergara has shown in his photographs, the 
clinics themselves took on the look of fortresses, in part to prevent 
break ins and theft.

However, federal legislation significantly tightened administration of 
methadone, and methadone itself took on a bad name among at least some 
users, who claimed it was significantly more addicting than the heroin 
they were trying to get off, and that it caused lethargy, body aches and 
"bone pain."  That together with the end of the heroin drought in the 
mid to late 1970s lessened demand among heroin users for methadone.

In a relatively recent (five or six years ago) tour of methadone clinics 
in Philadelphia, I found most were associated with hospitals or health 
centers and not particularly noticeable to a passerby, but they continue 
to be sited in areas of high drug use, so it is somewhat difficult to 
distinguish the effects of a clinic from neighborhood effects more 
generally.

Since I am generally supportive of harm reduction and drug maintenance 
programs, I would like to be more supportive, but frankly I would blanch 
if someone proposed putting one next to my house.
--
Eric Schneider
Assistant Dean and Associate Director for Academic Affairs
Adjunct Professor of History
University of Pennsylvania
120 Cohen Hall
Philadelphia PA 19104-6304
[log in to unmask]
Phone: (215) 898-6341
Fax:  (215) 573-2023

For information about Smack:  Heroin and the American City, see
http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14532.html
http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/podcast/