Bangor methadone clinic to open May 1; final OKs awaited

BANGOR – A proposed methadone clinic that created a whirlwind of debate here in the past year will open – pending expected state and federal approval – on May 1, according to Acadia Hospital officials.

“We’re as convinced as ever that it’s a needed program,” Lynn Madden, Acadia’s vice president of administration, said Wednesday, citing a recent internal survey showing a steady increase in opiate addicts seeking treatment there.

Methadone is a synthetic narcotic used to treat those with serious addictions to heroin or powerful prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, the abuse of which has plagued the region in recent months.

Madden said the clinic, which will be located at the hospital’s Stillwater Avenue campus, would serve only 10 to 15 patients in its first few weeks and gradually increase its patient base. The program will be licensed to serve 150 patients.

Before the May opening, state and federal licensing agencies will conduct final inspections of the facility during the week of April 9, Madden said.

Last year, news of the clinic prompted staunch opposition from law enforcement, school officials and some community members concerned that the drug’s availability would attract hard-core addicts to the area and result in increased crime. Methadone, itself, also drew fire from some local drug experts who called the daily treatment outdated and too addictive.

In response to the outcry, state officials postponed licensing of the program until a community group could study the issue and make recommendations.

In December that committee, comprising officials from Acadia and the City Council, issued its final report to state licensing agencies, in which it recommended the clinic open under certain restrictions and subject to independent evaluation of its effect on the community.

Kimberly Johnson, director of the State Office of Substance Abuse, on Wednesday said the imminent opening of the program would fill a dire need for the treatment in the region, which has seen an alarming rise in opiate use in the past few years.

“There’s a pent-up demand after a year’s delay, and we’re happy that the program can open,” said Johnson, adding that she expected no problems in the clinic’s licensing process. “We think that the study that we’re doing with Acadia and the city will give us good information on the community impact.”

To begin that study, a federally funded independent evaluator will arrive in the city on April 17 to meet with members of a community advisory group set up to assess the clinic’s impact on its host city.

Local law enforcement agencies will be major contributors to the study, and Bangor Police Chief Donald Winslow – while still lukewarm on the clinic’s placement in the city – said Wednesday that he believed the program, at its busy Stillwater Avenue location, would have little effect on crime.

“I’m still not particularly happy that it’s here,” said Winslow, who at the advisory group’s Tuesday meeting released baseline crime statistics to compare with future crime rates in the area. “If we start to see problems they’re going to be readily identifiable … but we believe [the clinic] will have minimal, if any, impact on the neighborhoods.”

At the Tuesday meeting, the advisory group also tapped two University of Maine drug experts, Drs. Mark Jackson and Robert Dana, to fill out the 11-member committee.

Dana, a vocal opponent of the methadone clinic, said that despite past divisions, the committee had to work closely on the serious task ahead.

“The bottom line is that we’re all in it for the same reason,” Dana said. “There’s a big problem brewing in this culture and we have to work not only on treating it, but preventing it.”