COASTAL DRUG BATTLE HEATS UP

CALAIS — Although a state official used the M word this week when she
floated the idea of methadone treatment Down East, leaders of a community
group in Washington County said Tuesday they hope the result will be a
broad, intensive substance abuse program for the region.

Concerned about reports that prescription drug abuse is rampant in the
area, a group of residents began organizing late last year with the mandate
to eliminate 'mind-altering substance abuse' problems in Washington County.
Members called their group Neighbors Against Drug Abuse.

During a meeting with the group Monday night, Kimberly Johnson, director of
the state Office of Substance Abuse, said federal and state money is
available to start an outpatient treatment facility. And the state has
found a Machias-based treatment provider to apply for the federal money.

The outpatient program the group hopes to form would include medical and
mental health services and substance abuse counseling, as well as
treatment, education and community outreach.

One of the organizers, nurse practitioner Anne Perry, said Tuesday she was
shocked that the state effort might focus on methadone treatment.

'We are working very hard to include the full county in a comprehensive
approach to this problem,' Perry said. 'A methadone treatment center,
whatever you want to call it, is putting things in before any kind of a
plan has been made. It's only one small aspect of all that we are looking
at,' she said.

Another local organizer, high school substance abuse counselor Carrie
McDonald, said the group was not interested in starting a methadone clinic
in the area. Opponents of such a clinic fear that it would attract more
drug addicts Down East.

She said the group was interested in a comprehensive treatment program —
and that methadone would be an option they might explore for long-term
heroin addicts. 'But it would only be a small piece of that, and it would
have to be researched and approved by the community. It wouldn't be a
clinic,' she said.

The Neighbors group includes medical providers, substance abuse counselors,
businesspeople, a minister, and others whose lives had been touched by
Washington County's drug problems.

In recent years, Down East has seen a dramatic increase in the illegal use
of prescription drugs. Law enforcement officials believe that the increase
has caused an increase in crime, including break-ins and burglaries.

Late last year, U.S. Attorney Jay McCloskey talked up a movement Down East
to attack the problem. But he said that while he could help identify the
problem, it was up to the people of Washington County to find a solution.
Those who met with McCloskey agreed, and they formed the Neighbors group.

Scott Withers, a medical provider who works with the substance abuse
program at Indian Township, was elected president of the group. Certified
nurse-midwife Nancy Green was elected vice president. McDonald and Perry
are also officers.

Although the four are drawn to each other because of their collective
medical experience, they view the solution as communitywide.

'We not only have to get these people off drugs, we have to treat the
addiction,' Perry said. 'And then we've got to treat the underlying mental
illness that the addiction is creating,' she said. 'We can't leave them
with the fact that they've gone through withdrawal and now they are OK. We
are looking at a program that goes beyond rehab,' she said.