CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Methadone clinics and their patients are fighting a proposed state tax on the medication, but some lawmakers say the tax would help counter West Virginia's drug problem in the long run.

A bill (HB2027) in the House of Delegates would tax treatment centers $1 for each daily dose of methadone they distribute. Tax revenues  - estimated at $1.5 million a year - would fund prevention, early intervention and recovery programs for addicts.

A public hearing on the bill is scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday in the House chamber.

Methadone is used to help people addicted to opioids, like OxyContin and heroin, curb their cravings. Doctors also prescribe it as a painkiller.

Angela Wagner, regional director for CRC Health Group, called the bill "discriminatory."

In West Virginia, CRC charges an average of $12.50 a day for treatment, which includes counseling services, she said. The company owns seven clinics in West Virginia.

Wagner pointed out that the legislation wouldn't tax people who get methadone for pain treatment. Nor would it tax other medications used in opioid addiction treatment.

"Our stance is that it would be detrimental to patient care," Wagner said. "It's targeting patients who are in treatment for substance abuse."

However, House Health and Human Resources Chairman Don Perdue, D-Wayne, said clinics appear to be misinforming patients about the bill. The excise tax would be levied on the clinics - not individual patients, he said.

Facilities wouldn't have to pass the tax onto patients, but "I think that the history of methadone clinics is that they would," Perdue said.

Last week, his office received hundreds of faxes from people opposing the tax, he said. The handwritten letters were all very similar, he said, and were sent from redacted phone numbers.

"We believe that most of those are originating from the clinics," Perdue said, adding that if clinics are making patients write the letters, they could be violating federal privacy laws.

CRC clinics have told patients about the proposed tax and let them use clinic fax machines and computers to contact legislators, Wagner said. They have not forced anyone to do so, she said.

She said methadone maintenance "is one of the most researched and outcome-based treatments out there."

In the fourth quarter of 2008, 94 percent of West Virginia CRC patients who had been on the program at least a year stayed free of opioids, Wagner said.  

However, Perdue and other supporters of the tax say the state needs a more multifaceted approach to addiction recovery.

About 5,000 people a day get methadone treatment in West Virginia, he said, but the state has less than 270 beds for long-term recovery programs.

"The disconnect between those numbers is profound," Perdue said.

Cabell County Delegate Doug Reynolds, one of the bill's sponsors, also pointed to that disparity.

"[Drug abuse] is one of the most prevalent issues in our community," said Reynolds, a Huntington Democrat.

Perdue said methadone treatment has become a lucrative industry in West Virginia, where all nine facilities are for-profit businesses. Ohio and Kentucky's clinics are nonprofit, so companies have opened clinics around the edges of the Mountain State to make more money, he said.

"Something that is as profitable as this should be able to put some money back into the system," Perdue said.

In recent years, West Virginia has tried to tighten regulation of clinics, but, Perdue said it's nearly impossible to get statistics about how many patients relapse after they leave methadone programs.

"What we need to be looking at is the long-term effects," he said.

Reach Alison Knezevich at alis...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.