Hartford Dispensary

They provide outpatient and telemedicine. Whichever one you start at the usual pattern is to step down through the levels rather than stop at once, and Meriden is the closest place to carry that on if you move.

No. The nearest place that does offer one is in Middletown, about a mile away.

They treat young people from 12 up, so a parent calling from Middletown about a teenager is in the right place.

They treat people in Sign language as well as English, which is worth confirming before a first visit because Middletown has 8 other centers and not all of them do.

They offer a pregnancy program. Call rather than wait, because this is the one case where timing changes the options and Middletown may not have a second place set up for it.

What you take comes with you, in the original labeled containers, and is reviewed on arrival. A prescribed benzodiazepine or opioid painkiller is the usual complication, and it needs a plan rather than a rule. Ask what their position is on prescribed medication generally, because positions differ.

Most programs build the family in, and how far they do it is a real difference between two centers. Al-Anon and Nar-Anon exist for the people around someone using, they are free, and they are separate from any treatment program. Ask about the release of information early, because without it the updates stop.

Publicly funded residential programs tend to have the longest lists and the lowest cost. Centers often keep a cancellation list, and it moves faster than the main one. Ask to be told if an earlier place opens, then check back rather than waiting to be called.