Public drug review

We accept the proposals advanced by the Bangor Daily News in its June 29 editorial on the need for the city and Eastern Maine Healthcare to reach an agreement on how to proceed to address the opiate addiction problem in this region. That editorial outlines a framework which puts in place a six-month moratorium on state approval or licensing of a methadone maintenance program, calls for Acadia Hospital to request federal officials to place a hold on their pending application, and asks that we begin a broad public review of the drug problem including appopriate law enforcement, education and rehabilitation and treatment programs, including but not limited to methedone. We must seek to provide the most effective treatment for the addict population wtih the least risk to the community at large.

These proposals address the community’s immediate concerns about the current methadone maintenance proposal and allow us the time we need to become better educated on these issues, share information and perspectives, and develop a full range of recommendations to address this region’s opiate problem.

While we recognize that this framework is a starting point which leaves many details to be worked out and much work to be done, we believe it is a positive and necessary first step in this larger effort.

We commend the BDN for its leadership in making recommendations that we believe the community can support and on which we can build. We urge Acadia Hospital and Eastern Maine Healthcare to join us in this support, put the immediate impasse to rest and work with us and members of this community in developing solutions to this problem. Mayor Michael W. Aube and the Bangor City Council