Accrediting agency gave Duluth methadone clinic positive marks
Three months before the Minnesota Department of Human Services recommended a methadone clinic in Duluth be shut down, a nonprofit accrediting agency said the Lake Superior Treatment Center "met or exceeded standards in many areas," the Duluth News Tribune. However, state investigators inspected the clinic in early August and found 56 violations of standards.
Minnesota's Human Services Department announced it was revoking the methadone clinic's license in September. The treatment center is appealing the decision and remains open until an administrative law judge issues a formal ruling.
The Lake Superior Treatment Center is one of five Minnesota clinics operated by a Florida-based for-profit company called Colonial Management Group. The Duluth clinic was cited in March for violating health and safety laws and rules. Most of those violations had not been corrected by last month’s follow-up inspection.
An investigative series by the Duluth News Tribune found that distributing methadone to opiate addicts has created a secondary market for the drug, through clients selling their take-home doses on the street. Failure to track take-home doses was among the violations cited by the Human Services Department. You can read the News Tribune’s whole methadone series here.
