Bloomington to start moratorium on drug treatment facilities

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - Bloomington officials are expected to impose a moratorium on new addiction treatment centers as they consider other ways to provide treatment without hurting the community.

Mary Catherine Carmichael, a spokeswoman for Mayor John Hamilton's office, told The Herald Times that the details of the plan are still being finalized. The Bloomington Planning Commission will consider the moratorium this month before it's introduced to the City Council, she said.

"We are hitting the pause button, to give ourselves time to give this issue the thought and attention it deserves," Carmichael said.

Officials want time to consider regulations for addiction treatment centers that have opened in the city and have been studying how addiction treatment centers can successfully integrate into a community, Carmichael said. Several treatment centers have come to the community in the past year.

"We are in full support of people receiving the treatment they need for addiction, but we are simultaneously responsible for trying to avoid the unintended consequences a proliferation of unregulated treatment centers could bring to the community," Carmichael said.

City Council President Susan Sandberg said concerned residents got her interested in finding a way to provide treatment people need without disrupting the daily lives of residents. The city can't ignore the addiction crisis or concerns about treatment centers, so officials must consider the best way to help people recover, she said.

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Information from: The Herald Times, http://www.heraldtimesonline.com