We request that the State of Tennessee Health Facilities Commission DENY Cedar Recovery’s Certificate of Need Application for a nonresidential substitution-based treatment center at 1805 Burgess Falls Road, Cookeville, TN (or any Putnam County location) for the following reasons:

1) Methadone has been linked in medical studies to brain tissue damage that can cause learning and problem-solving issues, slower thinking, problems walking, balance troubles, abnormal heart rhythms, and respiratory problems. Methadone carries an FDA warning as a possibly addictive drug and is listed as a DEA schedule II dangerous drug “with a high potential for abuse, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence.”

2) Venture capital investors view methadone clinics as highly profitable takeover targets, creating the potential to lose local control of the clinic.

3) The Upper Cumberland region has a number of non-substitution-based treatment groups that KNOW our communities AND are actively cooperating to help residents overcome opioid use disorder.

4) The 1805 Burgess Falls, Cookeville location is in the same building as a youth sports training facility, is within 0.2 miles of a homeschool umbrella office in one direction and a daycare in the other, and is within 0.5 miles of a middle school.

Signers should live in the Upper Cumberland and be at least 18 years of age