Medford residents fight to keep 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. The tension over the potential methadone treatment center and its location has grown every day since.

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

"It's tough because I walk my children to the parks and to school every day, as do many other parents in the neighborhood," said Brianne Gallagher. She is a mother of two children under five and lives down the street from the proposed center. "I think it's tough to provide the right meaningful dialogue on that to children who are that young. Especially elementary school children which are primarily the kids you see walking around that time of day."

Community pushback against treatment center

Brianne is just one of hundreds who signed on to push back against Habit Opco and its quest to open a center in Medford. According to a study of potential impacts requested by the city, the center would consist of, "a reception area, medical exam rooms and an in-house dispensary overseen by a medical director."

It was that word, "dispensary," that set off alarm bells for folks who live nearby. Hundreds of them showed up to Tuesday's city council meeting looking to express their concerns. The city council had been set to discuss a moratorium on medical treatment centers until this proposal could be reviewed further.

Habit Opco pledges to find new location in Medford

It was in that meeting when the city council announced it had been informed just hours prior that Habit Opco was rescinding its proposal. In a letter to the city council, obtained by WBZ-TV, the company cited community feedback for its withdrawal, but pledged to find another location within the city for the center.

That did not sit well with people in the city hall chambers. Residents made it clear they did not want a center like this anywhere in the city.