MENANDS — Village Hall turned heated Wednesday night as dozens of frustrated Menands residents questioned the company planning to open an addiction treatment clinic.
A public forum was arranged due to misinformation regarding the clinic circulating through the village, Mayor Megan Grenier said. Community members seized the opportunity to address a panel from Fusion Recovery that plans to open a facility in the shopping center at 444 Broadway that offers methadone and suboxone to treat opioid addiction.
It was also a chance for residents to voice their opinion about the clinic, which they say has been hidden from them for nearly a year. While villagers packed the hall Wednesday night, Trustee Tim Lane said he was the only resident who attended the previous public forum with the Behavioral Health Science Advisory Committee.
“At the time, I was one of the only people aware of this topic,” Lane said. “I only became aware of it a few weeks prior to that, although it had been in the process for 10 months at that point.”
Fusion Recovery has contingent approval from the state Office of Addiction Services and Supports. But residents are urging county and local officials to block the development due to fears that it could attract the same problems as other clinics, including Camino Nuevo in Albany, which has come under fire for contributing to what residents say is a rise in drug sales and use in the immediate area.
Fusion leadership, however, emphasized the center would not be a methadone clinic but a comprehensive behavioral health treatment facility that offers methadone in conjunction with clinical services and therapy. While traditional clinics often cause loitering due to individuals waiting outside for the prescription drug, Fusion will operate by appointment only and require patients to wait inside the building.
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