Court asked to close detox clinic
A motion to grant an injunction that would shut down a Perry Township detoxification clinic was heard in Fayette County Court Monday. Sheryl Heid, assistant solicitor for the county, petitioned the court to shut down the clinic, arguing that the facility is located in an area along Route 51 that is not properly zoned to treat drug-dependent patients.
The county posted a cease-and-desist order on the clinic last week; however, Heid said she was unable to verify whether or not the clinic complied with the order because a message on the clinic’s answering machine says that the facility is open by appointment.
Heid said the current zoning ordinance requires detoxification facilities to receive a special exception to operate and alleged that the clinic is such a facility and uses buprenorphine to treat people with opiate addictions.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved buprenorphine for use in 2002 to treat addictions to opiates such as heroin, morphine, oxycotin and fetanyl. Buprenorphine works by alleviating withdrawal symptoms, according to the FDA’s Web site.
The detoxification clinic is allegedly operating out of a building where a proposed methadone clinic was to be opened a few years ago.
The proposed methadone clinic never officially opened because of public outcry, which resulted in the issue being brought before Fayette County Judge Steve P. Leskinen after the county zoning hearing board in May 2005 granted a special exception that gave the clinic permission to operate.
In March 2006, lawyers representing Perry Township and the Frazier School District asked Leskinen to overturn the ruling, saying it would be unsafe for a methadone clinic to be located at the proposed area, noting that the clinic would be close to a school and located on an unsafe section of Route 51.
Leskinen overturned the zoning hearing board’s ruling after hearing the case and remanded the case back to the zoning hearing board. The case was then sent to state court before being sent back to the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas.
The methadone clinic would have administered methadone out of a building that housed a former lawn tractor shop at the intersection of Route 51 and Rehoboth Church Road.
Methadone is an opiate drug used in substitution therapy to treat people addicted to heroin and other opiates.
According to court documents, Lawrence A. Bujdos owned the property in question and had a tentative sales agreement with Louis Waller Jr. and Steven Shanner at the time the case was before Leskinen.
The property is zoned business (B-1), which means a drug rehabilitation facility administering methadone has to have a special exception to operate there.
Although treatment with methadone requires a license, which is what the former clinic proposed to use, Heid said buprenorphine treatment does not require special licensing because a licensed physician can dispense the drug.
However, Heid said the clinic still requires a special exception under the county’s zoning ordinance because any type of detoxification facility would require one.
A decision regarding the injunction request heard Monday is pending.
Joshua Farber, an attorney representing the owners of the clinic, declined comment Monday.
Herald-Standard reporter Jennifer Harr contributed to this article.
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