Methadone compromise

A Bangor group that tried to calm tensions and sort out highly conflicting views of a plan for a methadone treatment facility here could agree to a fair and reasonable compromise today, ending eight months of divisive debate. The subcommittees of the Special Committee on Opiate Addiction deserve credit for reaching agreement on this difficult issue and deserve support from both the full group and the public.

The debate began early last spring when, in response to a state request for proposals, Acadia Hospital applied to add methadone treatment to its facility on Indiana Avenue. Few people denied that Bangor had seen an increase in heroin use and the illegal spread of opiates such as Oxycontin. But concern that the facility, the Acadia Recovery Community (ARC), would attract more drug and other crime problems to the city than it would solve prompted many meetings, angry discussion, hurt feelings and a referendum question on last fall’s ballot.

The committee, with representatives from the city and the medical community, properly decided not to simply guess at potential ill effects from a methadone facility, but to bring this form of treatment to those who need it while monitoring its impact. And rather than placing it at ARC, Acadia agreed to find another spot at least temporarily. The compromise gets the service into the community without the concerns about the proposed location. Presumably, if methadone treatment occurs without the rise in crime or other problems, ARC will again be considered as a methadone facility.

The subcommittees’ work was a fair conclusion to a difficult issue for Bangor, and it leaves significant responsibilities for both sides. The city, for instance, must support the fight against drug addiction with education programs while giving the hospital time to get its program under way. Acadia needs to cooperate with law enforcement and support new types of treatment, such as buprenorphine, as they are approved. Finally, members of the public with an intense interest in this issue should respect the fact that the committee was faced not only with honest uncertainty about the effect of a methadone facility on the community, but rising drug addiction in the city and the authority of the state, which wanted the facility.

By approving its compromise plan today, the committee will allow Bangor residents with opposing views to work together on this issue as they have done on countless other issues that have confronted the city. That, in itself, will ensure a more effective fight against the drug abuse in Bangor.