CLINIC DIRECTOR FACING CHARGES

A nationally renowned and controversial doctor in the field of methadone
treatment was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Portland on
charges that he falsified records and wrote prescriptions for controlled
substances without a permit.

Dr. Marc Shinderman was also named in a civil complaint that alleges that
through CAP Quality Care, his for-profit methadone clinic in Westbrook,
Shinderman engaged in Medicaid fraud by dispensing take-home doses of
methadone to patients who did not qualify for them. The complaint alleges
that Shinderman billed Medicaid for counseling and treatment that patients
did not receive.

Shinderman faces up to four years in prison for each of the 52 counts in
the criminal indictment that allege misuse of a Drug Enforcement
Administration registration number, aiding the acquisition of controlled
substances by fraud and falsifying records required to be kept by a pharmacy.

He faces up to five years in prison for each of the 16 counts that allege
he created false medical records. He faces fines of up to $250,000 on every
charge.

Shinderman has been under investigation for almost two years, but the
government's indictment came as a surprise Thursday, said his attorney,
Thimi Mina of Portland.

"We haven't even had time to examine the charges, but if the indictment is
based on what I've seen this afternoon, he's going to plead not guilty and
take his case before a jury," Mina said.

"It's one thing to get an indictment from a grand jury that hears only from
the prosecutor and quite another to convict based on competent evidence,"
Mina said. "We hope and expect Dr. Shinderman will be exonerated."

Shinderman has operated methadone clinics in Maine and Illinois for more
than 30 years and has been a celebrated and controversial figure in the
addiction treatment community.

Shinderman is a champion of high dosage methadone treatment, which he says
reduces the chances that a patient will relapse and return to illegal drug
use. He was the author of an article titled "When Enough Isn't Enough," and
had advocated actively against what was considered to be the maximum dosage.

That philosophy, combined with a policy of letting some patients take home
doses for a week or more rather than make daily visits to clinics, was
cited as a contributing factor in the record number of narcotics overdose
deaths in Portland in 2002, CAP Quality Care's first full year of operation.

Sgt. Scott Pelletier of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency said a large
number of the overdose deaths in Portland that year were attributed to
methadone that was prescribed to clinic patients, taken home and sold or
traded for other drugs. The victims were usually not clinic patients and
had no tolerance for methadone.

Pelletier said the overdose drugs were traced to both of the Greater
Portland methadone clinics, CAP Quality Care and Discovery House.

On Sept. 9, 2003, agents from the DEA and the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services executed a search warrant at CAP and seized records.

U.S. Attorney for Maine Paula Silsby would not say if the investigation was
related to the overdose deaths.

No court date has been set for Shinderman's first court appearance.