To the editor:
I find it curious that some Salem residents "don't want Salem to be one of the go-to locations for which other cities outsource their addiction problems." ("No methadone here," Page 1, Wednesday, June 16.)
Thus my question is: Where do residents with this mentality think Salem residents receive their methadone? The reality is that they're "outsourced" to Peabody (CSAS); Danvers (CAB); Gloucester (HES); and two — maybe more — clinics in Lynn (Habit OPCO, Habit Management).
As one who has done recent clinical work in the field of addiction, I have witnessed firsthand how there is a high demand for methadone clinics and a limited supply. The alternative to methadone maintenance treatment is generally overdose and possibly death.
The disease of addiction continues to spread and infect residents all over the North Shore. Neither ignorance (example: Josh Turiel referring to clinic clientele as "junkies" in his June 16 letter to the editor) nor delegating treatment elsewhere, will make the heroin problem disappear.
Amy Blanaru
Beverly
