HOUSE VOTES TO RESTRICT DRUG CLINICS

Two Pieces Of Legislation Would Ban Methadone Clinics From Certain Areas.

HARRISBURG - Plans for a methadone clinic on South Queen Street in
Spring Garden Township took a hit this week when the state House
approved two pieces of legislation that would regulate where such
facilities are located.

Critics claim that methadone clinics, which treat heroin addicts,
pose a public safety risk because they attract drug dealers.
Separate bills that sailed through the state House would ban the
clinics from areas where children learn and play and where families
live and pray.

Rep. Todd Platts, R-Springettsbury Township, whose district includes
the South Queen Street location, successfully argued on Wednesday that
methadone clinics should not be allowed within 1,000 feet of a
residential neighborhood, school, park, playground or place of worship
in a first-class township such as Spring Garden.

A day earlier, Rep. James Casorio Jr., a Westmoreland County Democrat,
had convinced his colleagues to support similar legislation. His
version would prevent the treatment centers from opening within 2,500
feet of a church, school, playground or charitable institution in any
municipality.

Public outcry over methadone clinics inspired both pro posals, but
Platts' proved more popular, garnering 167 yes votes to Casorio's 126.

Some House members shied away from Casorio's version because it was
unclear if it would apply retroactively to the state's existing
methadone clinics, which number close to 30. Platts' legislation would
apply only to facilities that begin operating after April 1.

His measure now heads to the Senate Local Government Committee, whose
vice chairman, Shrewsbury Republican Mike Waugh, has worked closely
with Platts. Waugh said he ex pects the committee to take up the
matter in mid-April.

"I feel very positive about it," Waugh said. "I just don't see that
we'll have any problem at all getting it out of the Senate committee
rather quickly. What the full Senate might do, I don't know."

A separate Senate committee will weigh Casorio's measure.

The pair of proposals inspired mild debate in the House. Some
lawmakers claimed they tied the hands of local government officials,
who deserve to have say over where such facilities locate.

"The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the wrong place to be
telling local municipalities how they should be dealing with these
issues," Rep. Curtis Thomas, a Philadelphia Democrat, told the Daily
Record. "We should not be preempting people at the local level from
making decisions on where these or any other facilities should be located."

Moreover, he said, a problem in one part of the state should not
prompt such broad-brush policy.

"I'm sure that Rep. Platts was doing what he thought was in the
interest of the people who live in the township that he represents,"
Thomas said. "But what about all other first-class townships? Do they
want that same thing?"

Despite his reservations, Thomas voted for Platts' proposal, largely
because it deals only with first-class townships. He rejected
Casorio's because it would affect every municipality, including
Philadelphia.

But Platts doesn't plan to stop at first-class townships. He simply
tackled them first. In time, he will introduce legislation that would
extend methadone clinic restrictions to all municipalities.

This would not be the first time the state steps in to regulate local
land use, Platts argues. For example, Pennsylvania's liquor code
dictates how far bars must be from schools, playgrounds and other
community facilities. State law also limits where mining may take place.

He also points out that many people who frequent schools, playgrounds,
parks and places of worship in one community live in another. They
cannot participate in picking the municipal officials who oversee
these facilities, but they can help select state legislators.

"This is a public safety issue that merits public policy from a
statewide perspective," he said.

Platts and local community members will meet tonight with
representatives of Advanced Treatment Systems, the Chester
County-based company that intends to open a methadone clinic in York.
The meeting at the Spring Garden Township Building on Tri Hill Road is
scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Also this evening, Casorio will host a town meeting in his district,
where outraged residents have banded together to hold off a methadone
clinic for three years.