I would like to register my dissatisfaction regarding the current plans to locate a methadone clinic in Bangor. Our law enforcement authorities are correct when they state that the locating of this type of facility in our community will increase crime. The clinic has the potential for dramatically decreasing our exceptional quality of life. The only winners will be organized crime and a privileged few in the medical community.

The promoting of the clinic appears to be a ploy to reap profits for the few, at the expense of our families, quality of life and the larger community in general. Decentralizing substance-abuse treatment facilities and creating small treatment centers closer to the homes of the addicts would be much more efficacious for all concerned.

If we allow the concentration of opiate addicts here, the long-term consequences could be devastating. Not only will we be inviting criminal elements into our midst, but also many addicts for whom the substance-abuse treatment has failed may choose to remain in Bangor. They would choose to remain because of the benevolent environment the clinic has fostered for obtaining drugs, and the growth in drug dealing that always accompanies any concentration of drug addicts. In that event, we shall have to provide housing and other social services.

Brett V. Williamson

Bangor