The agency that regulates methadone clinics in Virginia approved additional licensing standards Wednesday that will require new facilities to demonstrate a need for the drug treatment they provide.

If signed by Gov. Mark Warner, the regulations will lift a statewide moratorium on new methadone clinics that has been in effect since February, when the General Assembly sought greater scrutiny of a treatment that has been expanding in Southwest Virginia in response to problems with prescription drug abuse.

Meeting at the Hotel Roanoke, the board of the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services voted unanimously to approve the new regulations.

The seven pages of new rules are aimed mostly at proposed clinics seeking a license from the state. They will not affect the daily operations of existing facilities such as the Roanoke Treatment Center on Hershberger Road, which opened in January to heated neighborhood opposition.

Under the new requirements, applicants for a methadone clinic license must show a need for the treatment in their proposed service area, which must be located entirely within the state and not extend more than 100 miles from the clinic.

To show that there are enough opioid addicts within the area who need methadone treatment, applicants can submit information such as the number of people on waiting lists at existing treatment centers, statistics on overdoses, arrest data, and letters of support from local government and health officials.

A final decision on whether a need exists for the new clinic will be made by the state.

Warner has until Dec. 1 to sign the new regulations, which in turn would lift a moratorium imposed by emergency legislation passed by the General Assembly.

The only license application to be delayed by the moratorium was for a proposed clinic in Scott County, according to Leslie Anderson, director of the office of licensing for the state Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services.

Proposals for a few other clinics -- including ones in Blacksburg and Lee County -- have been put aside for other reasons, such as zoning restrictions or failure to comply with a law passed last year that bars the facilities from within a half-mile of schools and day care centers.

Of the approximately 20 methadone clinics in Virginia, three of the newest are in Southwest Virginia.

At public hearings held earlier this year on the new regulations, there was "overwhelming" support for methadone treatment from speakers in the Hampton and Fredericksburg areas, Anderson said.

The comments were more mixed at a third hearing held in Marion. Many Southwest Virginia residents have raised concerns about criminal activity associated with methadone clinics that might attract large numbers of out-of-state residents.

"They didn't want to become a mecca for that," Anderson said.

Although the new regulations require that a clinic's primary service area be located within the state, they do not prohibit people who live outside Virginia from being treated.

The new rules will be added to the state's existing licensure requirements, which call for extensive documentation of a clinic's policies, procedures and personnel requirements.

In Roanoke, police have reported few problems associated with the Hershberger Road clinic, which is now providing daily doses of methadone to about 130 addicts of heroin and opium-based prescription drugs such as OxyContin.

Of the 31 calls police have received since the clinic opened nine months ago, 20 were false burglar alarms, according to police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson. The rest of the calls were for minor offenses such as trespassing or incidents directed at the clinic, including vandalism and a bomb threat.