ACLU OFFERS AID IN DEBATE OVER CLINICS

A Recently Passed Law Freezes Openings Of Methadone Offices

The operators of proposed methadone clinics have been offered legal counsel
by the ACLU of Virginia, which argues that a new moratorium on opening such
facilities violates federal laws.

The General Assembly passed the moratorium, recently signed into law by the
governor, that prevents any openings until after the state Department of
Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services writes
standards for licensing the facilities. The agency has 280 days to craft
the new rules.

Kent Willis, executive director of the state chapter of the American Civil
Liberties Union, said the law, effective immediately with the governor's
endorsement, means no new clinics until early 2006. There are an estimated
15 clinics operating in Virginia, four in the Richmond area, to help those
addicted to heroin or other opiates, including strong pain killers.

The ACLU has talked to representatives of two planned clinics about
lawsuits, Willis said.

Arguing that such legislation attempts to shut down clinics, Willis
contended that the sponsors of the legislation and a 2004 law restricting
their locations "are capitulating to individuals who fear clinics near them."

"There's no indication that anything but good results from the clinics'
work," Willis said. "All the research shows that the clinics reduced
drug-related crime in the areas in which they exist."

The new law and last year's legislation -- it outlawed the clinics within a
half-mile of schools and day-care centers violates the Americans with
Disabilities Act, he said.

Federal courts have consistently invalidated government policies, he said,
that exclude or impose excessive restrictions on methadone clinics.

Instead of educating people about the clinics' value, "legislators are
pandering to potential neighbors" of the facilities, Willis said. But chief
sponsors of the new law -- Sen. William C. Wampler Jr., R-Bristol, and Del.
Terry G. Kilgore, R-Scott said the rights organization misunderstood the
intent of the legislation and their motivations.

"I don't think their argument holds water," Kilgore said, recalling that
the ACLU unsuccessfully made the same pleas during legislative hearings.
The bill doesn't affect clinics "now in existence, " he argued, and there
should be reasonable regulations on their operations.

Wampler agreed.

"All the bill is designed to do is to say: Let us pause for a moment so the
director of [the department] can promulgate regulations with regard to the
proper amount of clinics" and the treatments they offer, he said. Similar
state review takes place before the opening of hospitals in Virginia.

Therapeutic considerations dictated the legislation, Wampler said.

For example, an effective methadone clinic should offer both in-patient and
out-patient counseling, he said.

"But many clinics just substitute one drug [methadone] for another. Let
clinicians" write the regulations, he said.