LEGISLATORS PLAN TO SUBMIT BILLS RESTRICTING METHADONE CLINICS

The Bill Would Not Allow A Methadone Clinic To Locate Within A Half-Mile Of
A School And Would Require Notification To The Locality Where One Is Planned.

First there was community agitation, then the threat of litigation, and now
proposed legislation.

Such has been the reaction in the past four months to proposed methadone
clinics in the Roanoke Valley.

When the General Assembly convenes next week , two legislators plan to
submit bills that would prohibit methadone clinics from opening within a
half-mile of a school. Legislation proposed by Sen.-elect Brandon Bell,
R-Roanoke County, and Del.-elect William Fralin, R-Roanoke, would also
require the state agency that regulates drug treatment centers to notify
the jurisdiction where a clinic is planned within 15 days after an
application for a state license is filed.

Bell and Fralin suggested the legislation as candidates in September, when
a planned methadone clinic in Roanoke County near Green Valley Elementary
School stirred up strong neighborhood opposition.

Although those plans were later dropped, Bell and Fralin said last week
that the law is still needed.

A second clinic proposed for Hershberger Road in Roanoke is within a
half-mile of William Ruffner Middle School. But because the clinic could be
in operation before any law might take effect, it's unclear if the clinic
would be affected if the bill passes.

In both the city and county, meeting zoning compliance and obtaining a
business license from the local governing body has been a key hurdle for
the clinics.

"I don't believe the General Assembly has a role in legislating zoning
criteria; that is best done by local government," Fralin said. "But it
should be in the business of regulating the distribution of controlled
substances."

In September, Bell and Fralin said a law barring methadone clinics within a
half-mile of schools could be applied retroactively to existing facilities.
They have since rethought that issue and drafted a bill that would apply
only to new clinics.

"I'm not sure it's fair to change the rules in the middle of the game,"
Fralin said.

The bill states that effective Jan. 1, 2004, methadone clinics applying for
a state license will not be allowed to locate within a half-mile of a school.

"The tricky thing," Bell said, "is when they are in the middle of the
licensing process." That is the case with National Specialty Clinics, which
applied for a state license in April 2002 for the Hershberger Road site but
has yet to receive approval.

Although proximity to schools has been a key aspect of the methadone
controversy, opponents have not cited any specific problems in other areas
where students and recovering drug addicts have occupied nearby buildings.
The principal of Galax Elementary School, which is within a few blocks of a
clinic operated by the Life Center of Galax, said in September that the
school has had no problems associated with the clinic.

Restricting the location of methadone clinics could jeopardize much-needed
treatment in the Roanoke region, where many addicts find themselves in a
gap that stretches from Charlottesville to Galax, according to Jay Clarke,
program manager of the Virginia Alliance of Methadone Advocates.

"There is definitely a need in the area," Clarke said. "I receive calls all
the time from people seeking help. It's time to close the gap."

A second part of the legislation, which would give the state Department of
Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services 15 days to
notify the affected local governing body after a license application is
made by a methadone clinic, was requested by members of Roanoke City Council.

City officials have expressed frustration over not knowing about plans for
the Hershberger Road clinic for more than a year after the license
application was filed with the state.