Methadone clients spark complaints in east Orange
Neighbors of an east Orange County methadone clinic are appealing to county commissioners for help in reigning in crime around the New Season Orlando Treatment Center, where sheriff ’s deputies have been on high alert.
The center, which provides opioid addiction treatment and recovery services in the Orlando area, has spawned trouble in the Little Lake Barton Shores Community — from minor nuisances to major crimes, neighborhood activist Vicki Long said.
“This clinic has disrupted our way of life,” said Long, backed by a petition signed by more than 100 residents of the diverse, workingclass neighborhood.
The petition called on the center to be a “responsible community member” and asked commissioners to force the clinic to address nuisance issues, including loitering clientele who pester motorists and customers of nearby businesses.
“Since the methadone clinic came in, our crime rate’s doubled,” another concerned resident, Bill Wilton, said while addressing the commission Tuesday.
Sheriff’s deputies dispute Wilton’s allegation.
It has operated in Orange County since 1997, most recently in east Orange in the 1000 block of North Semoran Boulevard in a building formerly occupied by rent-to-own retailer Aaron’s.
It has operated for several years in the 1000 block of North Semoran Boulevard in a building formerly occupied by rent-to-own retailer Aaron’s.
Orange County Fire/Rescue Station 66, located two doors from the clinic, has responded to 41 medical calls at New Season in the past 18 months, fire/rescue spokesman Mike Jachles said.
Those calls could range from a drug overdose to a broken toe, he said.
“It’s not been a burden on our services,” Jachles said.
He said other health-related businesses, including an assisted-living facility and a dialysis service, generate more medical calls.
Data collected by the Sheriff ’s Office show crime on the rise within a half-mile radius of the clinic over the past few months. Fifteen break-ins of homes, businesses or cars have been reported since Jan. 1, up slightly from the same period a year ago.
Sheriff’s Capt. Susan Wallis, who leads the agency’s crime-enforcement effort in the area, said the clinic may attract some clients who cause problems, but most of the issues probably wouldn’t be a concern if the center wasn’t adjacent to a neighborhood.
“It’s a needed business,” she said, referring to Orange County’s opioidaddiction epidemic.
She said most clients are seeking help for an addiction problem that cuts across all socioeconomic boundaries.
Wallis, who sometimes keeps watch on the area from an unmarked sheriff’s vehicle, said some clients arrive by bus, others in pickups or work vans and a few in luxury automobiles.
Despite the spike in crime, the clinic doesn’t pose the same challenge as another neighborhood nuisance, El Reconcito Bar & Grill, a crime-plagued club on east Colonial Drive that closed in February.
The bar was the site of shootings, Wallis said.
Methadone is an opioid prescribed for pain management and is also provided through treatment programs to treat disorders related to the abuse of heroin, fentanyl and other opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Former Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs convened a special task force in 2015 to address the surge of heroin overdoses and overdose deaths in Orange County and current Mayor Jerry Demings, then sheriff, led the group.
In 2015, 85 people in Orange County died from a heroin-related overdose. The drug killed 66 more people in Orange County in 2016.
Representatives of New Season didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
Colonial Management Group, the former name of New Season, was listed as a participating agency on the treatment subcommittee for the county’s heroin task force.
Long said she hopes county commissioners might consider zoning changes to block clinics from setting up shop near neighborhoods.
“We care about where we live,” she said.
Wallis said she understands why residents worry about their neighborhood, which was built in the 1930s.
She pointed out the community has made its collective voice heard before.
Their complaints led Orange County to restrict so-called “pill mill” pain clinics that opened along the business corridor more than a decade ago, bringing similar problems into the community.
Sheriff’s deputies also credit the neighborhood’s “eyes and ears” for helping to evict the crime-plagued El Reconcito Bar & Grill on east Colonial Drive.
Wallis said her unit is committed to fighting and preventing crime in the neighborhood and around the clinic.
She urged residents to call 407-836-HELP if they see something suspicious.
“We want to help,” Wallis said.