By Erin Thompson
ALLENWOOD — Union County officials confirmed Tuesday that a nearly decade-old and almost empty industrial park may soon be home to a methadone clinic operated by a Massachusetts-based agency.
Union County Commissioner Preston Boop said that having a methadone clinic at Great Stream Commons, along Route 15 in Gregg Township, could benefit the community.
"There is a direct correlation between proximity and (successful drug treatment)," Boop said of the potential outpatient facility. "And a local treatment center provides the opportunity for individuals to get treatment and maintain a job as opposed to being unemployed and a tax burden."
Methadone is a synthetic narcotic drug similar to morphine, but less habit-forming. It is used in narcotic detoxification and maintenance of heroin addiction.
Valley methadone patients are currently treated in Dauphin County, where they are taken by bus.
All surrounding counties have drug treatment facilities and a methadone clinic could reduce crime in the area, Boop said.
"Treatment of these individuals is better than the alternative, incarceration," he said.
Boop said he doesn't think that a clinic at the Great Stream Commons would affect local businesses positively or negatively.
"It wouldn't be any different if it were another medical treatment facility," he said.
Mike Adams, director of the Great Stream Commons, was unavailable for comment about the methadone clinic plan. However, the only businesses operating in the industrial park are medical-related.
Target purchased a 166-acre site from the Union County Industrial Development Corp. two years ago for $7 million. The distribution center was scheduled to open this year and provide the Valley with nearly 1,000 family sustaining jobs, such as truck driving, material handling and security, but work on the project stopped in late 2008 as the retail chain struggled with slumping sales.
Union County Industrial Development Corp. operates using state grants and the proceeds of $13 million bond issued by Union County to finance the Great Stream Commons project. That debt has been reduced by a $3 million grant in 2003 and the proceeds from property sales, most notably the $7 million deal with Target Corp.
In addition to the Target site, there are another 200 acres of land available for development.
The proposal to put the drug-treatment facility in Great Streams Commons may be discussed at tonight's Gregg Township supervisors meeting.
A township spokeswoman said a representative of the proposed clinic may be at the 7 p.m. meeting at the municipal buiding.
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