Pubdate: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 Source: Bangor Daily News (ME) Copyright: 2000, Bangor Daily News Inc. Contact: http://www.bangornews.com/ Author: Joan Belsky Note: Joan Belsky lives in Bangor. Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1600/a07.html METHADONE CONCERNS I am writing to thank our elected council members who have patiently asked the opiate committee's spokespeople from Acadia Hospital excellent common-sense questions. I think it is fair to say that with each meeting of this opiate committee, only more questions have come from the questions that our council members have asked. The location of the proposed clinic would be the site of Acadia Recovery Community (ARC), near Indiana Street in Bangor. The questions and concerns regarding the proposed site of the clinic were well founded and, I am sorry to report, left unanswered by the spokespersons from Acadia Hospital. Bangor's opiate committee needs more time to study this complex issue and time to clarify details of drug treatment programming for our community. Here are some of the blanks. Actual need because of numbers of opiate addicts is in question, preparation and communication with the relevant social agencies such as Shaw House have not begun, discussions with treatment providers who work outside of Acadia who would also be treating this population at some point have not yet occurred, issues brought up regarding security at ARC have not yet been addressed. There is no security at ARC. City Councilor Patricia Blanchette asked if the city is jumping the gun with the placement of a permanent methadone clinic when alternative methods have been reported in clinical papers and have not been discussed by Acadia and local health care providers. Lynn Madden, vice president of Acadia Hospital answered her by saying that the alternative-treatment discussion is for another time. When City Councilor Joe Baldacci asked questions of concern for safety in the neighborhood surrounding the clinic being that there is no security at ARC, Madden acknowledged that this was a real problem that needed to be addressed. Nichi Farnham's question regarding drug dealers infiltrating the respite area of ARC and potentially dealing opiates to two vulnerable populations at ARC, the people who come in to utilize ARC who are still on drugs and-or alcohol and need respite and those patients who would be coming to this same location daily for their methadone dose, was answered by Madden with, yes, this could very well happen. Councilor Daniel Tremble assertively asked all members of the opiate committee if this proposed clinic was a "done deal" or did these members really have an open mind? All of the Bangor City Council members responded that they had not yet heard all that they needed to hear and indeed were coming to these meetings with an open mind. The Acadia trustees all said they favored Acadia Hospital getting the methadone clinic because Acadia was the one place here that could do it. This is reflected in the tape recording of the meeting and kept by the city manager. It was unfortunate that there was no Bangor Daily News reporter present to cover this important meeting. The State Office of Substance Abuse asked Acadia Hospital to place the clinic in Bangor thinking that Winslow's clinic would close. Winslow's methadone clinic won its right to stay open. So Acadia and the State Office of Substance Abuse need to prove that Bangor needs a clinic. I say Acadia's spokespersons have not yet provided our community with enough information for such a need nor have they given us a detailed, well-defined clinic to analyze. I would like to suggest that the citizens of Bangor vote yes on this methadone referendum and tell our City Council, Acadia Hospital and the State Office of Substance Abuse that we have not completed the study process. We need time and we should feel secure there is a methadone clinic open nearby in Winslow for the patients in need. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake