Pubdate: Fri, 15 Apr 2005
Source: Beaufort Gazette, The (SC)
Copyright: 2005 The Beaufort Gazette
Contact:  http://www.beaufortgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1806
Author: Jessica Flathmann

OKATIE METHADONE CLINIC MAY OPEN THIS SUMMER

Recovering drug addicts using methadone could get their treatment in Okatie
starting this summer.

The legal battle over whether a methadone clinic should be located in
Okatie, greater Bluffton or both should be coming to an end, said Jimmy
Long, a Columbia lawyer representing a Pennsylvania-based group that wants
to put a clinic in greater Bluffton. Judge John Geathers with the
Administrative Law Court said last month that he would issue a ruling
allowing the state to consider applications for clinics in both areas
separately instead of in competition with each other.

In August, state officials issued approval for a clinic in Okatie and denied
approval for a greater Bluffton clinic. Officials at the time said the
clinics were compared and the Okatie site provided the same service to
clients for less money because its rent would be significantly cheaper than
the one proposed in greater Bluffton.

But the approval was appealed, and it won't be issued formally until the
appeal has been resolved. The ruling would allow the Okatie clinic to open
and the greater Bluffton clinic application to begin a new review.

Methadone is a drug given to recovering addicts to break their dependency on
substances such as heroin, morphine, OxyContin and other opioid drugs.

The treatment eliminates the withdrawal symptoms for between 24 and 36 hours
when given daily, according to the federal Office of National Drug Control
Policy.

Richard Skelskey, a partner in Recovery Concepts, the applicant for the
Okatie-area clinic, said he's happy to hear that the judge ruled the state
will be allowed to issue the Okatie clinic's approval.

The clinic should be open in July.

Long said he argued to Geathers that the two clinic applications shouldn't
have been compared to each other because they are in different counties, and
the judge agreed. The Okatie clinic would be located in Jasper County, while
the greater Bluffton clinic would be in Beaufort County.

"He ruled from the bench that they were not competing," Long said.

Justin Werner, the judge's law clerk, said the written order should be
released this week.

Albert Whiteside, director of the state Department of Health and
Environmental Control's Division of Planning and Certificate of Need, said
as soon as the state receives the judge's formal order it would issue the
approval for the Okatie clinic to open. It also would begin to reconsider
the application for the greater Bluffton clinic.

"We're just sitting in limbo waiting on some order from the (administrative
law judge)," Whiteside said.

He said that when the first clinic opens, it may give state officials a
better idea of how many patients in the area need treatment. The nearest
clinics are in Charleston and Savannah.

If the Okatie clinic has enough patients, it could mean the greater Bluffton
clinic would be needed and could get approval to open.
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