Ringgold residents upset with methadone clinic coming to town
A number of Ringgold residents and business owners are upset about a methadone clinic set to open less than a mile from historic downtown.
Ringgold Treatment Center is being set up in the former City Electric Supply building on U.S. Highway 41 just past the historic Depot and is expected to open in the coming weeks.
On Wednesday, Aug. 24, a number of the concerned residents created a Facebook page titled “Stop Opiate Treatment Clinic from opening in Ringgold, Ga.,” to voice their opinions on the center. The page had 315 “likes” as of Monday morning, Aug. 29.
City manager Dan Wright says he’s heard some of the recent questions and concerns of residents, but that the city’s hands are essentially tied in the matter.
“The city really doesn’t have the final say on the issue,” Wright said. “Businesses come to us for an occupational tax certification because that’s what’s required if you’re operating a business inside the city limits, but medical facilities like this are licensed and regulated by the state.”
Wright added that in recent years, a number of “methadone clinics,” as they’re called, are looking to open in the state because neighboring states like Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina have stricter laws and requirements.
“We’ve had four or five different clinics looking to come into our area over the past couple of years, which is why we’ve worked closely with Senator Jeff Mullis and state officials to draft legislation to regulate these types of clinics.”
Wright says a oneyear moratorium on the matter was approved by the legislature in June, which will stop the issuance of licenses to opiate treatment clinics for the short-term, but that the Ringgold facility got its application in before that bill passed.
“The city doesn’t have the authority to say, ‘no, you can’t open this clinic here’, when it’s regulated by the state as a medical center…. It’s considered the same as a chiropractor or a pharmacy.”
Joy Thornton, who owns two businesses in town with her husband, says she too has concerns about the clinic opening in “We’ve had four or five different clinics looking to come into our area over the past couple of years, which is why we’ve worked closely with Senator Jeff Mullis and state officials to draft legislation to regulate these types of clinics.” — City Manager Dan Wright town.
“People are worried about drugs, drug dealers and druggies coming to town, but I think Ringgold people really try to take care of Ringgold,” Thornton said. “People shop here and we have a great town with great schools, but yeah, it could have an affect on new people and new businesses moving to the city if there’s a drug problem. If there’s a lot of drugs around, I think that just increases the potential for thefts and other crime.”
Catoosa County Coroner Vanita Hullender is also very passionate about the subject after dealing with drug overdoses on numerous occasions in her career.
“I see methadone overdoses all the time,” Hullender said. “We already have at least 62 of these clinics in the state of Georgia, and there were several scrambling to get licensed before the moratorium. There are 11 in Florida and Alabama and seven in Tennessee…. Why does Georgia need a 63rd?”
Hullender also said that the fault should not only lay with the clinic owners, but those making the regulations as well.
“It’s not working,” she said. “They’ve been trying to regulate it and it isn’t working.
“The majority of the clinics out there are doing it for the profit, not for the welfare of the people trying to get off the drugs. I am tired of having to tell families that their loved ones are passing away from methadone. It’s one thing to have to tell people their loved one died, but it’s another thing to have to tell them that it was a preventable death.”