5 NEW METHADONE CLINICS PROPOSED FOR W.VA.

Proposed Bill Would Put Drug Under State Regulation For First Time

Methadone customers in Kanawha County might be able to get their daily dose
for a dollar less, if a Florida company is allowed to open a second
methadone clinic in the county.

It's one of five new methadone clinics proposed for West Virginia this
month. The others would be in Nicholas, Mercer, Mineral and Greenbrier
counties.

West Virginia had zero methadone clinics in 2001. For-profit clinics have
been popping up all over the state ever since.

West Virginia is attractive to methadone sellers because it has no state
regulations on methadone, a synthetic drug used to wean addicts off illegal
drugs. West Virginia's OxyContin addicts are a major market for methadone
sellers, but many of the clinics' customers come from border states that
have strict rules on methadone sales.

Delegate Marshall Long, D-Mercer, is a family doctor. He plans to introduce
a bill this legislative session to regulate methadone, which is extremely
addictive and can kill novice users who buy it on the street.

"What I hope to do is extract the best of all the surrounding states'
legislation to come up with a bill that will help solve our problem," Long
said.

West Virginia's nonprofit mental health centers should run the clinics,
rather than out-of-state corporations "who are profiteering on our
citizens," he said.

"Methadone clinics are reaping huge, huge, huge profits," he said. "We have
trouble funding our mental-health centers ... What better way to fund them?"

One corporation, National Specialty Clinics, runs six methadone clinics in
West Virginia and many in other states. It's being bought by a bigger
methadone seller, CRC Health Group Inc., so earlier this month NSC had to
withdraw its plans to open methadone clinics in Mercer, Mineral and
Greenbrier counties. It had already gotten permission from the state Health
Care Authority to open the clinics, but the state wouldn't transfer that
permission to the new parent corporation.

A day after the state approved CRC's buyout of the West Virginia methadone
clinics, CRC reapplied to open the Mercer, Mineral and Greenbrier clinics.
Those must go through the whole Health Care Authority process again.

Meanwhile, another corporation wants to sell methadone in Kanawha and
Nicholas counties for $11 per day - a dollar less per day than West
Virginia's existing clinics sell it.

Colonial Management Group operates methadone clinics in 14 states. The
corporation's board also has voted to try to open a clinic in Monongalia
County.

The Kanawha County clinic would be located near Charleston - which already
has a methadone clinic - and the Nicholas County clinic would be near
Summersville, according to the applications.

Colonial Management said it would reserve five spots in each clinic for
people who cannot afford to pay for treatment. West Virginia's existing
methadone clinics will not treat anyone who cannot pay cash each day.