BILL PLACING MORATORIUM ON METHADONE CLINICS AWAITS GOVERNOR'S SIGNATURE

A unanimous vote by the Virginia Senate Monday essentially locks a proposed
methadone clinic out of Scott County.

A governor's veto is the only thing shadowing the proposed law that would
take effect in July and would prohibit methadone clinics from being
constructed or established in localities without zoning ordinances.

House Bill 1778, sponsored by Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, on
behalf of county lawmakers and concerned constituents, reported out of
respective health-oriented committees in the House of Delegates and Senate
and passed both legislative bodies unanimously, including Monday's 40-0
vote in the Senate.

Scott County is currently developing zoning ordinances that would be
comprehensive over the entire locality, although certain townships -
including Weber City, Gate City and Dungannon - already have zoning.

Kilgore said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Richmond that the bill
has the support of the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental
Retardation and Substance Abuse Services.

"It will give the agency time to re-evaluate things in terms of methadone
clinics, and it gives localities the opportunity to breathe a little easier
without having this methadone clinic issue thrust upon them," Kilgore said.

"Even though the bill will not go into effect until July, the language of
the bill satisfies the need to prohibit any type of establishment before
the July 1 date.

"We are not against providing help to those who need it. The reason this
bill came to be was because a lot more aspects of service areas need to be
examined."

County lawmakers and Kilgore have commented that the only reason
Appalachian Treatment Services LLC (ATS) wanted to locate in Scott County
was because of its closeness to Tennessee and interstate traffic from North
Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and West Virginia.

Company spokesperson Dr. Richard Skelskey has said that clientele from the
Tri-Cities area would benefit from a opiate addiction treatment facility
being located in Scott County.

ATS has purchased an option on a piece of property located outside of the
Weber City town limits, just a few hundred feet from the Tennessee state line.

Although Kilgore's proposed law change would place a moratorium on
methadone clinic establishment, the ATS project is possibly being hamstrung
by a inquiry into the proposed acreage by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

A report from the agency states that the property contains a body of water
that has influence on the Holston River, which was recently identified as
critical habitat by the U.S. Department of the Interior for endangered
freshwater mussels.

The other portion of the bill would have the state substance abuse service
officials consider other qualifying criteria in order for an organization
to place a methadone clinic in a specific area.

Those include:

. The number of persons needing such treatment in the service area.

. The proposed site of the clinic.

. The existing access to such treatment.

. The geographic and demographic parameters of the service area.

. The proposed clinic's security and accountability measures.