Tony Winner Ali Stroker Reframes Disability Representation and Identity

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – West Virginia’s largest overdose prevention group filed a federal lawsuit to overturn the state’s nearly two-decade-old moratorium on new methadone clinics. In the lawsuit, which was filed in United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, Solutions Oriented Addiction Response of West Virginia (SOAR-WV) asserts the moratorium violates Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. SOAR-WV is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU-WV), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Kaplan & Grady. “Methadone is an evidence-based medication backed by 50 years of research that cuts the risk of fatal overdose by 50 percent and is particularly important given the ubiquity of fentanyl in the drug supply,” ACLU-WV Legal Director Aubrey Sparks said. “West Virginia should not be discriminating against people in recovery by arbitrarily denying them this lifesaving medicine, now more than ever.” Since 2008, at least 11,983 people have died of an opioid overdose in West Virginia, the equivalent of the combined populations of Pendleton and Calhoun counties. The rise of fentanyl in recent years has made the issue of methadone access even more important. The moratorium has resulted in only nine clinics operating in the state, leaving broad swaths of the population more than an hour’s drive from the nearest methadone clinic. Methadone treatment programs often require daily in-person check-ins, making it practically impossible for thousands of West Virginians to get the treatment they need while juggling the demands of life, said Sarah Stone, who co-directs SOAR-WV along with Joe Solomon. Stone explained that methadone is vitally important because it is the only medication for opioid use disorder that fully activates the opioid receptors in the brain. “For that reason, it allows people who are using powerful opioids like fentanyl to begin recovery treatment without first going through painful and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that increase the risk of relapse and death,” she said. ACLU Staff Attorney Joseph Longley explained that people who are seeking health services in connection with drug rehabilitation are considered people with disabilities under federal law. “One purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act is to ensure people are able to receive the care they need, without the social stigma that often accompanies addiction. The government should not be getting in the way of lifesaving care.” In addition to the moratorium, the lawsuit challenges the state’s zoning restriction that bars new methadone clinics from operating within a half-mile of any daycare center or school – a sweeping ban that does not apply to other types of health care facilities. “For nearly two decades, West Virginia has severely restricted access to methadone, a lifesaving treatment for opioid use disorder. In a state leading the nation in overdose deaths, that policy is deadly — and unlawful under the Americans with Disabilities Act,” said David Howard Sinkman of Kaplan & Grady.

The ACLU’s new Congressional Scorecard tracks how federal elected officials are voting on key legislation affecting core civil rights and constitutional freedoms.

SEATTLE – Attorneys for Gather Church today announced that Lewis County has repealed a local ordinance that prevented the church, a ministry devoted to helping people with substance use disorder, from providing critical, lifesaving harm reduction services through its syringe services program. The repeal is the result of a settlement agreement reached after the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Dec. 31 blocked enforcement of the ordinance, finding that the ordinance likely violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and state laws that permit and encourage harm reduction services. Gather Church is represented by American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Washington (ACLU-WA), and law firm Kaplan & Grady. The settlement agreement reached by the parties includes a total repeal of the ordinance, which Lewis County has done today. Now that the ordinance is repealed, Gather Church can resume its mobile syringe services program and distribute lifesaving supplies like test kits for fentanyl and xylazine, and the federal court case against Lewis County will be dismissed. The settlement also includes $500,000 in attorney's fees. “The harm reduction program at Gather Church is effective, and it saves lives. We are thrilled that our mobile clinic and distribution program can resume. Serving the community is a core part of Gather’s religious mission, and we won’t stop meeting people where they are,” said Cole Meckle, pastor at Gather Church. Harm reduction services use non-judgmental strategies to minimize the negative health, social, and legal consequences associated with substance use. In 2019, Gather opened a mobile SSP that offered sterile syringes to people who would otherwise share unsterile syringes, along with other vital health services such as nursing assessments, mental health assessments, wound care, and connection to treatment and medical services, to name a few. The program is supported by a grant from the Washington State Department of Health and built on decades of research showing that SSPs save lives, reduce the transmission of disease, facilitate access to drug rehabilitation, and do not increase drug use or local crime. “The total repeal of this discriminatory ordinance is a victory not only for the recipients of harm reduction services, but for the community writ large. Harm reduction benefits everyone by reducing disease transmissions and overdoses, and it should be encouraged—not banned,” said Malhar Shah, staff attorney with the ACLU Disability Rights Program. “Pastor Cole and Gather offer care and compassion to people who Lewis County would otherwise turn its back on. This settlement is a victory for harm reduction providers and others who insist on uplifting our shared humanity,” said Tara Urs, staff attorney with ACLU-WA. “By halting Lewis County’s discriminatory ordinance, the court recognized the civil rights of faith-based and secular harm-reduction providers who deliver life-saving health care and dignity to people all too often marginalized by their communities ,” said David Howard Sinkman of Kaplan & Grady.