METHADONE THERAPY BRINGS HOPE, CLARITY

I must express my frustrations over the current debate regarding the
implementation of a methadone maintenance clinic in Bangor. I am very
disappointed with the political leaders of our community, who are seemingly
willing to stop at nothing to keep a methadone treatment center out of
Bangor. The wrong people are being allowed to make a very important
decision, one that will have a great effect on the lives of many addicts
and their families in our community.

The city sees addicts in Bangor as deviants and criminals - this is far
from the truth.

I am a 20-year-old student, and although I have never conceded to the
curiosity of heroin, it has become an important element in my life. Over
the past two years, I have see many of my friends turn to drugs and I am
afraid.

Drugs make people lose control and responsibility over their lives.

Drugs distort a person's reality and perception, and have serious adverse
affects on their social and familial interactions. Heroin is the ultimate
drug. It changes people and it changes their priorities. I have seen it
make a person lie, cheat and steal. I have seen it make people ''jones'' so
hard they are shaking, sweating, crying, so emotionally distraught and
physically pained that their body aches with craving for the drug.

Sadly, the only thing that will appease them is the injection of heroin
through a needle in their vein - erasure of all pain. Strength and will is
sometimes not enough to combat the physical cravings, and group therapy and
counseling alone is not going to convince them to stop doing drugs.

One month ago, my friend died of a drug overdose.

I knew he was struggling with an addiction, but I didn't know how bad it
really was. No one ever imagined it would ever happen to him; such a fun,
loving, caring person, who was struggling with a personal addiction beyond
his control. He said he wanted help and he knew he needed it, but was at
the point where he could not see his way out and could not do it alone. He
knew that methadone was an option, but was not educated and did not know
how to use it. I believe if he had the alternative of rehabilitative
methadone treatment in a controlled, fostered environment, he may have been
able to get the help he needed, and live the life he deserved to live.

The circus debate over the methadone maintenance clinic is pulling the
public's attention away from the true issue at hand; our community, our
children need help, and there is a way for them to get it. We can't ignore
the problem, disregard the addicts as hopeless, cross our fingers and pray
that people will eventually see the error in their ways and try to change.

People who are addicted to drugs do want to change, but they physically cannot.

Heroin is here. Increasing police patrol and zero-tolerance laws are not
going to stop people from doing heroin.

The people must be educated on methadone.

So far, the city and media are distracting the public by focusing on the
controversy, not allowing the people to be rightfully informed about
methadone maintenance treatment itself.

The city is painting a picture of addicts as monsters, who would flood the
city with drugs and crime if a clinic were open. When proposed with the
question of a methadone clinic attracting more dealers to the area,
consider this thought: A choice between licensed meth-adone treatment,
which would produce a high and calm the cravings with no withdrawal
effects, or $30 for a bag of heroin and all that comes along with it. Which
do you think people would choose?

If anything, it could drive the dealers away due to a decreased market size.

Many people do not understand the process of methadone maintenance, and are
not being given the chance to learn.

The clinic would not be a free-for-all for every drug addict who wanted
methadone, but an integrated process of rehabilitative therapy and physical
treatment. Meth-adone prescriptions are indeed available now through
private doctors in certain instances for pain control, but having bottles
of methadone on the street is not going to help the issue of drug
availability in our community - it just adds to the cocktail.

At a methadone maintenance clinic, prescriptions for methadone will not
just be handed out; patients will be expected to come to the clinic on a
daily basis to receive their treatment on-site.

Methadone is not the end-all conclusion to the heroin epidemic by any
means, but is a small and very important piece of the treatment process.
Through methadone maintenance, the window of hope and reality may be opened
a little more each day, giving the addict greater clarity to see what needs
to be done and the strength to do it.