Judge grants Elkton, Maryland injunction against Suboxone clinic
Summary and Analysis…
The effort by the town of Elkton, Maryland to contest plans to establish a Subuxone clinic in the downtown business section highlights some of the issues cities and town may face as Suboxone or other MAT-driven clinics or doctor’s offices begin to establish themselves around the country.
In this case, Elkton believed that the proposed clinic (though that term was contested by MATClinics, the company behind the clinic) was being done in violation of local zoning regulations and would materially change the town center.
Excerpted from Cecil Daily
On October 2, 2017, Circuit Court Judge Jan Cairns Murray granted Elkton’s request for a preliminary injunction against MATClinics which had planned to open a part-time office in the town center.
According to the October 2nd article on the Cecil Whig site, the judge noted that “the public interest, which is different than what some people here think it is, is having fair, consistent zoning practices.”
The town’s attorney argued that the “preliminary injunction was necessary to ‘freeze the status quo’ and that MATClinics intentionally attempted to sneak in and open a clinic in an area not zoned for it.”
MATClinics argued that the town and business reaction was due to a “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY) attitude.
For earlier information on the injunction, see Elkton, Maryland files injunction against proposed Main Street suboxone clinic and Elkton, Maryland enacts six-month moratorium on medical practice development.
