Medford residents fight to stop methadone clinic from opening near school

MEDFORD – It's been two months since Habit Opco filed for a special zoning permit on Salem Street in Medford. Since then, tension around the potential methadone treatment center and its location has increased every day.

Salem Street runs through a heavily residential neighborhood, and the exact site of the potential methadone treatment center would have been just a few blocks from an elementary school, a park and other businesses.

“It's hard because I walk my kids to the park and school every day, like many other parents in the neighborhood do,” Brianne Gallagher said. She is the mother of two children under the age of five and lives down the street from the proposed center. “I think it's difficult to offer meaningful dialogue about this with kids that young. Especially elementary school kids, which are mostly the kids you see walking around at that time of day.”

Community backlash against treatment center

Brianne is just one of hundreds of people who have pledged to fight Habit Opco and its quest to open a center in Medford. According to a potential impact study requested by the city, the center would include “a reception area, medical examination rooms and an internal dispensary supervised by a medical director”.

It was this word “dispensary” that set off alarm among people who live nearby. Hundreds of them showed up to the city council on Tuesday to voice their concerns. The City Council was expected to discuss a moratorium on medical treatment centers until this proposal could be further examined.

Habit Opco commits to finding new location in Medford

It was at this meeting that the city council announced that it had been informed a few hours earlier that Habit Opco was canceling its proposal. In a letter to the city council, obtained by WBZ-TV, the company cited community feedback regarding its removal but pledged to find another location in the city for the center.

This did not please the members of the city council. The residents made it clear that they did not want a centre like this anywhere in the city.