METHADONE MORATORIUM CLEARS FIRST HURDLE IN VA. LEGISLATURE

A bill proposed by Sen. William Wampler Jr. that would place a moratorium
on the creation of new methadone clinics in Virginia cleared a legislative
hurdle on Thursday.

Wampler, R-Bristol, said in a telephone interview from Richmond that Senate
Bill 753 secured a unanimous vote from the Senate Health and Education
Committee in a hearing that featured an objection to the bill from a
representative from the American Civil Liberties Union.

"We have to place a moratorium on these clinics because there is no clear
guideline for the director (of the Department of Mental Health, Mental
Retardation and Substance Abuse Services) to follow with regards to
licensing these facilities," said Wampler.

"So instead of the legislature setting out in the code what those
guidelines could be, we have said have the director promulgate regulations
through the Administrative Process Act."

The senator noted that the act is designed to allow everyone who is
interested in the issue to be heard and offer their comments concerning the
regulations that he will propose.

Among the things that Wampler is proposing for the director and other
parties involved in the process of developing this methadone clinic
evaluation process are:

* The number of citizens in a particular service area that need to be
served with substance abuse treatment.

* The current access to existing treatment facilities.

* Appropriate settings for the clinics.

* The degree of counseling that goes along with a methadone clinic treatment.

"It's one thing to dispense methadone, but it's another thing to have a
successful treatment plan where you have both intensive in- and outpatient
treatment," Wampler said.

The bill would also call on the director of license issuance to establish
reasonable geographic and demographic parameters of the clinic's service
area, and have the sponsors of a clinic submit a plan of operation that
would include security and accountability measures.

Wampler noted that the opposition voiced by the ACLU during Thursday's
hearing dealt with the bill "being discriminatory" based on precedent set
forth in the American with Disabilities Act.

"We have existing facilities. We have treatments that are available. So I
do not see this as being discriminatory, and I don't think the committee
members bought that argument, either," Wampler said.

Officials from the Virginia Municipal League spoke in favor of the
moratorium, Wampler noted.

The bill now goes to the Senate's uncontested calendar for consideration on
Monday.