[420 Girl]

INDIANAPOLIS - Methadone clinics would be more strictly regulated and patients would undergo marijuana testing under legislation the Indiana House passed and sent to Gov. Mitch Daniels yesterday.

Rep. Steve Stemler, the bill's sponsor, said the drug-testing provisions could reduce the number of patients at the Southern Indiana Treatment Center in Clark County and at other methadone clinics located along the state's borders.

He said many patients leave their home states -- where marijuana testing is required -- to come to Indiana's clinics. "This will make a huge impact," said Stemler, D-Jeffersonville. "I feel confident that will happen."

The Clark County clinic is the state's second largest, serving nearly 2,000 patients in 2005. About two-thirds of those patients came from Kentucky. In all, Indiana's methadone clinics serve more than 10,000 patients annually, with more than half coming from other states.

The final version of Senate Bill 157, which passed the House 89-0, does not include an earlier amendment that would have required the clinic's patients to have a designated driver after their appointments. The Senate earlier approved the legislation.

Stemler had sought the requirement, saying that the federal Food and Drug Administration puts methadone -- which is used to treat addictions to heroin, OxyContin and other drugs -- in the same classification as those medicines used for outpatient surgeries or procedures.

In those cases, hospitals or medical centers require designated drivers. But Stemler said yesterday that the proposal proved too controversial and was deleted from the bill. At the time that amendment was considered, Tim Bohman, regional manager for CRC Health, which owns the Clark County center, told lawmakers that patients have a high tolerance for opiates and therefore can function normally after a treatment.

SB 157 also requires the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to pass new rules to regulate methadone clinics and requires state approval for all patients who would receive more than 14 take-home doses of the drug.

Patients who test positive for marijuana would lose the right to have the popular take-home doses. That means they would have to go to the clinic daily to receive their methadone.

The bill also gives Family and Social Services new authority to fine clinics that do not follow state rules.

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