Indiana City Votes to Restrict Drug Treatment Centers

The New Albany City Council has added language to the zoning code that restricts opioid treatment facilities to medium commercial or light industrial zones. The move anticipates the end of a six-month moratorium on new clinics that began in November.

At the meeting, councilmembers made it clear that they would prefer to continue an outright ban of addiction treatment centers in the city. When the legality of that approach was questioned, officials agreed to pursue zoning changes to "cordon off" the facilities.

State law currently bars methadone clinics from locating within 20 miles of each other.

In 2014, a state commission noted that the number of deaths from prescription drug overdoses had quadrupled in Indiana over the previous 10 years. By 2015, drug overdoses had become the leading cause of injury deaths in the state.

The full story from the News and Tribune is the second item on this page.