METHADONE CLINIC'S FUTURE STILL IN LIMBO

It's "fairly unusual" for the application process to last two years, a
state official said.

A proposed methadone clinic in Roanoke is still months away from
opening, nearly two years after applying for a state license.

Since filing an application in April 2002, the company that plans to
open the drug treatment center on Hershberger Road Northwest has seen
its plans slowed by regulatory requirements, community opposition and
a merger with another company.

CRC Health Group officials said this week that the Roanoke Treatment
Center will not open for another six to 12 weeks. Clinic operators had
first predicted they would begin treating patients in February or March.

The company still must receive a license from the state Department of
Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, as
well as approval from the Virginia Board of Pharmacy and the Drug
Enforcement Administration.

It's "fairly unusual" for the application process to last two years,
according to Leslie Anderson, director of the Office of Licensing in
the state agency that regulates methadone clinics.

The state has gone from dealing with National Specialty Clinics, a
Nashville, Tenn.-based company that filed the application and obtained
a city business license, to CRC, which purchased the smaller company
in December.

Earlier this month, CRC officials submitted a revised policy manual
for the clinic that state regulators requested last June, according to
correspondence obtained through the Virginia Freedom of Information
Act.

"You need to be completing your policies and procedures as required
throughout the regulations," a state regulator wrote in a June 9
letter to a National Specialty Clinics official in
Indianapolis.

Now that the policies have been submitted, the state must review them
before scheduling a visit of the proposed site at 3208 Hershberger
Road.

"It's almost like we've started over," Anderson said of the process.
But unlike National Specialty Clinics, CRC already operates two
methadone clinics in Virginia, and has submitted policies already
being used in the state.

Joe Pritchard, vice president for operations for CRC's eastern region,
said Monday that the process has been delayed by the merger with NSC.
Community opposition also has played a role, as the company has spent
time researching other sites that might be less controversial.

Many Northwest Roanoke residents say a methadone clinic, which
dispenses daily doses of the synthetic narcotic to recovering addicts
of opium-based drugs such as heroin and OxyContin, will draw increased
crime and drug activity to the area.

CRC is open to the idea of shifting its operation from the Hershberger
Road site to another location, as opponents have suggested, Pritchard
said. However, that could be complicated by a bill, passed recently by
the General Assembly, that would limit new methadone clinics from
opening within a half-mile of any school or state-licensed day care
center. The bill is awaiting Gov. Mark Warner's signature.

"The new rule makes it more difficult for everybody," Pritchard
said.

Jeff Artis, who is leading community opposition to the Hershberger
Road site, recently suggested in a commentary published in The Roanoke
Times that the clinic be located at the Veterans Affairs Medical
Center in Salem.

Three days after Artis' commentary appeared, medical center Director
Stephen Lemons released a statement explaining there is no room for a
methadone clinic. "We already face a major strain on our system and
the facilities," Lemons said.

Even if a public clinic could be run from a federal facility
designated for veterans - as has been done in other states - the
location is complicated by another factor: It's less than a half-mile
from East Salem Elementary School.

Artis said Monday that he is still waiting to hear from CRC officials
on whether they plan to open the Hershberger Road site.

In recent meetings with community members, Artis said, the company
seemed committed to looking at alternative sites after learning that
more than 2,000 people have signed petitions against the location, and
that opponents have already launched an economic boycott of any
business that provides services to the clinic.

Opponents have also said they plan to picket the facility if it opens,
and to monitor patients as they come and go.

"They understand what is waiting for them if they open," Artis said of
the company. And while his group plans to conduct nonviolent protests,
Artis said he has heard about other opponents who might have something
else in mind.

"It's going to get real, real interesting up here on Hershberger
Road," he said.