Pubdate: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 Source: Portland Press Herald (ME) Copyright: 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.portland.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/744 Author: Mark Shanahan Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) STATE SAYS CLINICS PROPERLY DISPENSING METHADONE State officials are confident that methadone is being prescribed properly in southern Maine, but they have concerns about other drugs being used to treat opiate addiction. Lynn Dube, commissioner of the state Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services, said Monday that the presence of methadone at several recent overdose deaths does not mean that clinics in South Portland and Westbrook are dispensing the drug casually. But Dube said her office is looking into reports that a highly addictive class of drugs called benzodiazepines also is being administered to treat heroin addiction. "I think it does make sense to look at that issue," Dube said. Ten overdose deaths in Portland since January are grim confirmation that the use of heroin and other opiates is on the increase in southern Maine. That has increased business for two local clinics that dispense methadone, which is still considered the most effective treatment for heroin addiction. Discovery House in South Portland and CAP Quality Care in Westbrook have seen a spike in the number of heroin addicts seeking treatment. Discovery House, in business on Western Avenue in South Portland since 1994, is serving about 425 people. CAP Quality Care, which opened last October on Delta Drive in Westbrook, is seeing 480 people. But police and drug enforcement agents are concerned that methadone, like heroin and the other drugs for which it's a treatment, is becoming a commodity on the street. They say some patients who are allowed to take home a week's worth of methadone, or more, are selling it, which may explain why methadone has been found at several recent overdoses. Of greater concern to Portland public health officials and local doctors is CAP Quality Care's practice of prescribing benzodiazepines in conjunction with methadone. Benzos, as they are called, are psychiatric medications that are helpful in treating opiate addiction in some people, but abrupt withdrawal from the drugs can be deadly. Dube said she is comfortable with how Discovery House and CAP Quality Care are dispensing methadone, noting that her office reviews and signs off on every take-home order. She said the methadone that is showing up at overdose deaths may have been prescribed by a doctor, and not by the clinic. But Dube shares the concern about the use of benzos, and plans to have the state Office of Substance Abuse investigate. Steve Cotreau, program director at CAP Quality Care, said the clinic commonly uses benzos to stabilize addicts who also have psychiatric problems. Frequently, he said, these patients come to the clinic because their doctors no longer will prescribe benzos. "Withdrawing from opiates, you feel like you're going to die," Cotreau said. "Withdrawing from benzos, you can die. "There's not anything we do here that we don't take seriously," he said. Many methadone patients, like 24-year-old Richard Vallier, believe the clinics do their best to screen addicts before allowing them to take home medication. But, he said, it is inevitable that some patients will abuse the privilege of taking medication home. "Sure, people sell the stuff. You're dealing with drug addicts," said Vallier, who's been on methadone for three years, first at Discovery House and now at CAP Quality Care. "But they do not make it easy for you to take home doses. You have to jump through hoops." - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl