METHADONE DEBATE

The Mental Health Department's flexibility in postponing a methadone
treatment program in Bangor was a positive sign for the city and the
potential treatment program itself. Federal, state and local officials
can use the next couple of months to get a better appreciation of each
other's concerns and devise the best answer for the region.

Heroin and the synthetic opiates are being found in Maine in
increasing amounts, with a parallel increase in crime. Though first
detected in southern Maine several years ago, the problem more
recently has spread statewide. A recent survey of Medicaid narcotic
use or abuse shows some startling results, particularly in Washington
County. More than half the patients seeking treatment at Acadia
Recovery Clinic in Bangor are opiate addicts -- some heroin, some
pharmaceutical drugs, some both.

Increased law enforcement and increased treatment of addictions are
inevitable responses to this situation. What is being debated in
Bangor is how these will occur. Commissioner Lynn Duby's decision to
delay opening a methadone clinic here, as proposed earlier, gives law
enforcement agencies time to test whether their new strategies for
eradicating these forms of illegal drug use will work. As important,
it will give everyone time to get a better sense of the problem and to
understand the options for dealing with it.

A few points to consider:

* Maine has the means to track sales of pharmaceutical drugs through a
computer network currently recording Medicaid prescriptions. Given the
sudden rise in the abuse of narcotics, the system should be used to
tally all prescriptions for these drugs, as suggested recently by Tim
Clifford, medical director for the Bureau of Medical Services. The
results would give everyone a more accurate account of at least one
part of this problem.

* Bangor is a city of 33,000 residents with a social-service
infrastructure to serve many times that number. The city has
cooperated with the state on countless occasions to build that
infrastructure, even as it saw some of its residents move beyond city
limits to lower-taxed, more homogeneous neighborhoods in nearby towns.
If every community has a carrying capacity for the number of services
it can provide, now would be a good time to find out how much more
Bangor can take.

* There must be a better way than a centralized clinic for delivering
treatment. With a strong suggestion that Washington County has a
problem, is it effective to have a significant number of its residents
drive more than four hours a day to Bangor and back to receive
methadone and counseling? The prospects of getting treatment and
holding a job would be even dimmer for a resident of the northernmost
part of the state. Surely it is more effective to work to establish
local programs, just as the state does for nearly every other
outpatient service it provides.

Bangor can handle difficult decisions, but it needs to be included in
the process. Commissioner Duby has opened up the discussion to the
community. The City Council properly is willing to provide the forum
for rational debate. Now is the time for Bangor to learn more about
methadone clinics, for the state to learn more about Bangor's concerns
and for both sides to improve their understanding of the scope of the
regional problem.