Bangor panel backs reapplication for drug Rx

BANGOR – City officials are considering taking another stab at a federal grant program that could expand treatment options for those addicted to opiates, a class of drugs that includes heroin, codeine and oxycodone, to name a few.

Bangor applied for a grant under the same federal program last year but did not get funding at that time. During a meeting Tuesday night at City Hall, members of the City Council’s government operations committee, led by Councilor Richard Greene, agreed to recommend to the full council that the city reapply. An agenda item to that end will go before the council in the near future.

The grant would be used to make buprenorphine, a promising alternative to methadone, available through a regional network of physicians, according to city documents.

Also known by the trade names Subutex and Suboxone, buprenorphine has been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for about two years. Compared to methadone, which by federal law must be administered out of a tightly regulated clinic, buprenorphine is relatively simple to prescribe, has fewer side effects and is less attractive to abusers.

Though more expensive per dose than methadone, buprenorphine also is easier to taper and discontinue, unlike methadone, which is for many addicts a lifelong therapy. Federal law limits the number of buprenorphine patients in treatment at any medical facility to 30, so in order to make it widely available in this region, a network of prescribing physicians is needed.

The application, if the council votes to submit one, would be submitted at the request of Acadia Hospital, which has operated a methadone treatment program on its Stillwater Avenue campus for more than three years but isn’t eligible for a grant. Only state and municipal government entities are eligible for the program, administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA.

“We are hoping that a SAMHSA implementation grant will help us implement a network of physician providers in this region who are trained and willing to provide buprenorphine treatment services through the region for persons addicted to opioids,” Acadia Vice President Lynn Madden wrote in a letter last month to City Manager Edward Barrett.

“The network would allow Acadia Hospital to accept patients for initial treatment but then rapidly return stabilized patients to their home communities for ongoing treatment,” Madden wrote, adding, “It will also allow us to add critical counseling and clinical services to the medication management of clients, thereby increasing their chances of successful recovery.”