SOAR-WV Sues To End State Moratorium On Methadone Treatment

West Virginia’s largest overdose prevention group says the state needs more access to methadone treatment and they’re suing in order to get it.

Solutions Oriented Addiction Response of West Virginia (SOAR-WV), filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of West Virginia to overturn the state’s nearly two-decade-old moratorium on new methadone clinics.

The suit – filed with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia – argues the moratorium violates Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

People who are seeking health services for drug rehabilitation are considered people with disabilities under federal law.

“One purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act is to ensure people are able to receive the care they need, without the social stigma that often accompanies addiction,” Joseph Longley, ACLU staff attorney said in a press release. “The government should not be getting in the way of lifesaving care.”

Sarah Stone, co-director of SOAR-WV, explained that methadone is the only medication for opioid use disorder that fully activates the opioid receptors in the brain. 

“For that reason, it allows people who are using powerful opioids like fentanyl to begin recovery treatment without first going through painful and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that increase the risk of relapse and death,” she said.

In addition to the moratorium, the lawsuit challenges the state’s zoning restriction that bars new methadone clinics from operating within a half-mile of any daycare center or school – a sweeping ban that does not apply to other types of healthcare facilities.

Last year the West Virginia Senate considered legislation to completely outlaw opioid treatment programs that distribute methadone without offering integrated care in West Virginia. Senate Bill 204 did not make it out of committee. 

But lawmakers like Sen. Scott Allen Fuller, R-Wayne, said they believe the state’s nine existing clinics “are not in the business of curing or helping,” and keep people in a perpetual cycle.