NORTON -- The state Senate approved a bill unanimously Wednesday that would halt licensing of methadone clinics until regulations could be developed. The measure was one of the first to get full Senate approval in this General Assembly session. "It flew through," said Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, the bill's sponsor. Lawmakers understood the bill and recognized the need to develop comprehensive regulations, Wampler said. The measure now goes to the House of Delegates, which will review the bill along with legislation drafted by Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, that would keep the clinics from targeting counties without zoning regulations. [continues 305 words]
RICHMOND - Gov. Mark Warner signed a bill Thursday that extends capped electricity rates and also could help the coalfields region land a $1 billion coal-fired power plant. He also signed into law a measure to keep methadone clinics away from schools and day-care centers. The deregulation bill has an amendment Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, crafted to lure a major utility company or an independent power producer to build a 500-megawatt plant in Lee, Wise, Dickenson or Buchanan counties. [continues 350 words]
Several bills of interest to Southwest Virginia have been moving through the state General Assembly in recent weeks. Lawmakers in the House of Delegates and the Senate also have been getting ready for crossover day on Tuesday, the point in the legislative session at which bills approved in one house are sent to the other for review. One bill, submitted by Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, would create a statewide database to allow authorities to track possible abuse of prescription drugs such as the powerful painkiller OxyContin. [continues 347 words]
Curbing abuse of the powerful painkiller OxyContin is the aim of legislation introduced by a Southwest Virginia lawmaker. Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, said Thursday the bill was requested by the state's incoming attorney general, Jerry Kilgore, a Scott County native who is to be sworn in on Saturday. OxyContin is a potent time-release narcotic that's become popular among drug abusers who crush and snort it. Abuse of the drug has resulted in the overdose deaths of scores of people in Southwest Virginia, Kentucky and Northeast Tennessee. [continues 327 words]
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., is asking the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee to hold a hearing to address what he called an emerging crisis of OxyContin abuse. In a letter sent to Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., the committee chairman, Warner said the seriousness of OxyContin abuse, and the important medical benefits of the painkiller when appropriately prescribed, are reasons the committee should undertake a careful review of the issues. "OxyContin is a profoundly addictive central-nervous-system depressant that was hailed as a miracle pain reliever for chronic pain or terminal illness suffers when it first became available in 1996," Warner said. "Clearly, though, the benefits that the drug provides to patients also make it a target for abuse." Forty-three known OxyContin-related deaths have occurred in Virginia, Warner said. [continues 194 words]
BEN HUR -- More than 1,500 people crowded into Lee County High School Friday to unite against the rising epidemic of OxyContin addiction sweeping across Southwest Virginia. And most of the law enforcement officers, doctors, pharmacists, church representatives, students and others who attended signed petitions asking the Federal Drug Administration to recall OxyContin. The narcotic painkiller, often prescribed to cancer patients, has become the illicit drug of choice in recent months. OxyContin overdoses have caused several deaths in Southwest Virginia recently. Police and prosecutors have said that every community in the region has an OxyContin problem. A recent drug sting in Wise County resulted in 43 arrests, most related to illegal use of the drug. The meeting was organized by the Lee County Health Coalition to explore how the community can work together to get the problem under control. [continues 687 words]
