METHADONE CLINIC TO CLOSE

No one involved except a direct competitor wants the Opelousas
Methadone Clinic to shut down. But it will be closed before Oct. 8.

No one involved except a direct competitor has pushed the issue
through the court system. Yet a Baton Rouge district court has forced
the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to withdraw the
clinic's license.

Everyone involved, except the direct competitor, has admitted the
clinic is serving an important need in St. Landry Parish.

But that need is being tossed aside as a technical aspect of the law
forces the clinic to abandon about 40 recovering drug addicts.

"That whole thing kind of smells. It has cornering-of-the-market
implications," said state Sen. Donald Cravins, D-Arnaudville, whose
district includes Opelousas. "No one believes the basis for closing
the clinic has merit," he said.

John, an Opelousas painter with a long-time pill addiction, has said
he needs the clinic for his very survival.

"This is all about money. There is no compassion at all for the people
who need this clinic. This clinic has changed my life. I used to spend
all week working just to spend my money on drugs. It's under control
now. I've been clean for two years. I want my clinic," John said.

Cravins, the Louisiana DHH, St. Landry Parish District Attorney Earl
Taylor, St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Laura
Balthazar and 27th Judicial District Court Judge James T. Genovese all
admit the parish has a clear need for the clinic, and the clinic is
saving lives. But the treatment will no longer be available in the
parish after next Friday.

"It is not our agency that is closing them down. It is court order by
Judge Kelley," DHH spokesman Robert Johannessen said Monday. "We have
been in court for two years fighting for this clinic," he said.

In 2002, basing his suit on the lack of a properly prepared needs
assessment, Richard Delahoussaye, the former lobbyist who owns the
competing Opioid Replacement Therapy Center in Breaux Bridge, filed
suit to shut down the Opelousas clinic.

"The proper venue for filing is where the defendant is domiciled, and
the DHH is domiciled in East Baton Rouge Parish," said Opelousas
attorney Garrett Duplechain, who is representing Alex John and Diana
Mahannah-John, owners of the Opelousas Narcotic Treatment Clinic.

The Johns freely admit that they did not get the paper work done in
proper fashion, but they also stress that the DHH directed them to
look at Opelousas when they filed a needs assessment for a clinic that
they intended to open in Lafayette.

"They sent us to Opelousas," Mahannah-John said.

Also, as Cravins said, the "needs assessment seems moot because an
obvious need has been established and that clinic has served its
community well."

Judge Timothy Kelley of the 19th Judicial District Court agreed with
Delahoussaye's argument and ordered the clinic closed. The Johns
appealed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeal and the Louisiana
Supreme Court, the former affirmed the lower court's decision while
the latter refused their writ.

On Sept. 2, 2004, Judge James T. Genovese of the 27th Judicial
District Court passed a 60-day injunction giving the clinic until Nov.
1 to make other arrangements for its patients.

But Delahoussaye could not wait. He went back to Judge Kelley and
obtained a cease and desist order that moved the date up almost a
month. He is on record saying that everyone should have to play by the
same rules.

"It is customary to give a methadone clinic a certain amount of time
to cease operations so that clients can make other arrangements. The
date set by Judge Genovese was Nov. 2. But the decision by Judge
Kelley in Baton Rouge pushed it up to Oct. 8," Duplechain said.

According to Johannessen, the state legislature imposed a moratorium
on the opening of new clinics on July 1, 2001 after a DHH statewide
needs assessment showed that Louisiana had three and one half times
the number of clinics it needs to service recovering addicts. The
moratorium extends through 2008 although another statewide needs
assessment is scheduled for 2005, according to Johannessen.

"From our perspective, we wanted a moratorium to cut the regulatory
costs of these clinics," Johannessen said. "It takes staff time to
conduct a survey of a clinic on a yearly basis," he said. Johannessen
was not able to immediately supply the costs, but said he will find
the numbers this week.

He also said that the goal was to reduce the number of clinics in the
state.

While the state was battling with those issues, the DHH issued a
license to the Opelousas clinic. The license remained unchallenged
until Delahoussaye filed suit.

Since the moratorium was placed, only two clinics have been shut down,
Johannessen confirmed Monday. One clinic in Tallulah was closed due to
incompetence, he said.

The only other clinic in the entire state to be forced to close is the
Opelousas clinic, Johannessen confirmed Monday.

"The whole thing just does not make a whole lot of sense," Cravins
said Monday. "There is no reason that clinic should be forced to
close. It defies every logical reason. The free market should decide
the issue of whether or not these clinics survive. If you do not get
the clients and retain the clients, you close down."