Baltimore County officials? support for a proposed methadone clinic in Dundalk indicates why the government should win its legal case against a similar facility in Pikesville, officials say.
The county does not plan to fight a state-granted license that allows a Baltimore City man to convert a Dundalk home into a methadone clinic, where he will treat heroin addicts with a synthetic narcotic, because it?s in a manufacturing zone, county spokesman Don Mohler said. The county is appealing a federal court ruling that overturned a law banishing medical clinics from residential areas, where a Pikesville center is located.
A judge and jury determined the law discriminated against the clinic?s patients, who are protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act.
County attorneys unsuccessfully argued drug abusers are not disabled and said the county was simply safeguarding residents from criminal behavior associated with addiction.
“We were not preventing clinics or other medical facilities from operating,” Mohler said. “We were simply saying that they can only be in certain areas of the county.”
During the three-week jury trial, the county attorneys pointed to more than 150 parcels they considered appropriate for a clinic, including a stretch along the 3900 block of Old North Point Road in Dundalk, where Baltimore resident Moshe Markowitz is constructing the most recent clinic.
The home is located directly across from a strip club, alarming local community leaders who said they want the county to pass new regulations restricting clinics to medical centers.
“The neighbors are upset, they are really upset,” said Fred Thiess, president of the Wells-McComas Citizens Improvement Association. “We plan to do whatever we can.”
In June, the county approved a building permit for Markowitz, who did not return phone calls seeking comment, to begin renovations.
Markowitz has already installed a wheelchair lift next to the home?s front porch.
The clinic will be the third of its type in Baltimore County, including the Pikesville facility and a public-private hybrid center in Timonium.
