BANGOR – City councilors will resume talks next week on a proposal to cap the number of methadone clinics here to the three existing ones and to establish a process the clinics must follow if they want to increase the number of patients they are licensed to treat.

The proposal to place limitations on the clinics, which provide treatment for addiction to opiates, will be discussed at 5 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall by members of the council’s government operations committee.

The proposal was borne out of city officials’ frustration over the state’s lack of leadership concerning where methadone clinics are permitted to set up shop in Maine. Though the state has a lengthy and detailed certificate of need process for hospitals and many of the services they provide, there are no such procedures in place when it comes to locating methadone clinics.

They note that Bangor has three such clinics, yet vast areas in Maine are underserved or lack services entirely.

Councilor Richard Stone, at whose request the limits are being considered, said earlier he was worried that Bangor is on its way to becoming the state’s “dumping ground” for methadone clinics.

Among his concerns are the potential demands on city resources, including subsidized housing and other public assistance programs.

During a recent meeting of the city’s advisory committee on methadone clinics, clinic operators said they were worried that a cap could force them to turn away opiate addicts in need of treatment.

Exacerbating the problem for The Acadia Hospital’s program – the only one in Bangor that is not-for-profit – is that cutbacks in the state’s MaineCare program are sending former clients of the two for-profit clinics in the city to Acadia, clinical supervisor Jeanne Wypyski, who serves on the advisory committee, said in June.

The for-profit clinics are Discovery House on Dowd Road and Metro Treatment Center, which is located in the Maine Square Mall on Hogan Road.

Combined, the three facilities are licensed to treat 1,650 clients, but now provide treatment to only about 1,250, according to statistics from the state’s Office of Substance Abuse. Bangor’s clinics serve patients from as far away as Aroostook and Washington counties.

The proposed zoning ordinance changes regarding the clinics went before the council in July and are still being drafted. Before being enacted, the amendments would have to undergo a public hearing and be approved by the council.

Stone’s move comes as officials in a growing number of Maine cities and towns are taking steps to make it difficult, if not impossible, for methadone clinics to operate in their communities.

Last December, the city of Ellsworth, where there are no methadone clinics, enacted both zoning restrictions and a 30-patient enrollment cap, effectively derailing any future methadone programs.

In neighboring Brewer, city councilors are considering a 180-day emergency moratorium on methadone clinics.

Statewide there are eight methadone clinics. Besides the three in Bangor, there are three in the Portland area, and one each in Waterville and Calais. A ninth clinic is awaiting final approval to open its doors in Rockland.

dgagnon@bangordailynews.net

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