BANGOR – The combined capacity of the three methadone clinics in Bangor now stands at 1,700 people. That’s nearly 40 percent of the total number of treatment slots statewide, though not all are in use.

Methadone in liquid form is used to treat addiction to illegal opiates such as heroin as well as to prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Vicodin and morphine.

Brent Scobie, administrator of substance abuse services at Acadia Hospital, confirmed Monday that Acadia ramped up its official capacity from 700 methadone treatment slots to 900 slots in December 2007.

The licensing increase reflects “a desire to continue to meet the needs of the communities we serve,” Scobie said, adding that current enrollment in the methadone program is only about 685 people.

“For quite a while we’ve been riding just below or at the 700 capacity level,” Scobie said. During the times when the program had reached capacity, he said, the result was a “two-tiered” system in which some opiate-addicted individuals were able to take methadone to help them manage their cravings and others were not.

“We just wanted to have the ability if the need was there,” Scobie said.

Scobie said the state’s approval of Acadia’s expanded methadone treatment capacity included assessments of the clinic’s physical layout, its hours of operation and the availability of professional staff to dispense medication, provide counseling and perform other aspects of treatment.

Bangor’s two other methadone programs also are licensed to handle more people than they now treat. Penobscot County Metro Treatment Center on Hogan Road is licensed for 300 but serves just 222, according to director Russ DuBois. And Discovery House on Dowd Road, which opened late last summer, is licensed for 500 treatment slots but now serves only about 190 people, according to director Brent Miller.

Miller said there are about 10 people scheduled for intake processing at Discovery House in the next week or two. While there is “an ebb and flow” in the demand for methadone treatment, “my experience is that the demand still far outstrips the availability,” he said.

Statewide, there are 4,260 methadone treatment slots in Maine, according to Guy Cousins, acting director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse. Only about 3,000 of those slots now are filled, he estimated, but that doesn’t mean the need isn’t there.

Cousins said there are segments of the opiate-addicted population that would benefit from methadone treatment but don’t have access to it, including people incarcerated in jails and prisons, those residing in remote areas, and those who are unaware treatment is available.

“Much of what we’re trying to do is improve access,” he said. That includes assessing whether existing clinic sites are appropriately located to deliver care to those who need it.

Cousins acknowledged that methadone treatment remains the focus of much public concern in some areas and that many individuals make inconsistent progress toward recovery, including relapsing into drug use and other illegal behaviors.

“If it surprises anyone that addicts don’t have a straight line to recovery, then they don’t understand addiction,” Cousins said.

Methadone clinics are required to report to the state data from clients when they’re admitted to treatment and regularly thereafter. The data include dozens of measures, including recent drug use, employment status, arrests, children in the home and many other indicators.

“We’re measuring how people become employable, sustain their relationships, succeed in parenting, and generally engage in society,” Cousins said. That assessment is ongoing, he said.