LAWMAKERS MAY RESTRICT METHADONE CLINIC SITES

RIO GRANDE -- A feud between two doctors in Cape May County has
sparked a statewide debate over the location of methadone clinics.

Dr. James Walsh operates his podiatric clinic in a building in this
section of Middle Township that also houses the offices of Dr. James
J. Manlandro, who specializes in drug treatment.

Since Manlandro moved in a year and a half ago, Walsh has complained
about the drug clinic and the traffic it brings to the working class
neighborhood with a school bus stop.

For three hours each morning, Manlandro's Family Addiction Treatment
Services dispenses the reddish-brown tonic that helps heroin users
break their addictions.

The drug is closely controlled and is not available in several states.
Department of Health officials said the 27 state-licensed methadone
clinics in New Jersey -- 16 of which are funded by the state -- treat
about 9,800 patients a year.

The state Assembly is considering a law that would reclassify for
zoning purposes the clinics that distribute methadone.

The clinics would have to be placed in areas designated for businesses
and could not be considered part of doctors' offices.

The Assembly bill is likely to come up for a vote next month. The
state Senate has passed an identical bill.

The bill would affect only new clinics -- not Manlandro's or other
existing ones.

Walsh is fighting his neighbor in the courts as well. He has filed a
lawsuit in state Superior Court seeking to overturn the local zoning
decision to allow the methadone clinic.

Neither Walsh nor Manlandro was available for comment
Tuesday.

But Ronald LaMorgese, who serves about 700 addicts at the methadone
clinics he runs in West New York and Irvington, said he sees both
sides of the argument.

He said he ran into opposition both times he opened clinics. He said a
court ruled in 1983 that methadone clinics should be allowed in the
same zones as doctors' offices.

"I think it just makes it quite a bit harder to get a foothold in an
area that needs a clinic," LaMorgese said. "The old concept is: We
need them, just not in our town."

But LaMorgese said it's probably not a good idea for a methadone
clinic to locate in the same building as another business. "They're
not the best of clients," he said.

Assemblyman Nicholas Asselta, R-Cumberland, is one of the sponsors of
the bill now working its way through the Legislature.

He would rather see the clinics in county complexes or hospitals. He
said those places are usually accessible by public transit and have
better security than areas like the one in Rio Grande where Manlandro
is set up.

Twice this year, police have charged suspects arrested near that
clinic with heroin possession.

Opponents of the clinic believe that's a reason it should be
moved.

Manlandro told The Press of Atlantic City in Tuesday's editions that
police have singled out his clinic because of public opposition to it.
He said there is probably no more drug activity near his clinic than
there is elsewhere in Cape May County.

Meanwhile, a state Department of Health official is trying to find a
new site for Manlandro's clinic.

Middle Township Mayor Charles Leusner said that isn't enough. "If
there is a death or injury in that neighborhood, then I'm going to
hold (state officials) personally accountable," he told the newspaper.