Jerry Springer would love the methadone debate in Bangor, which has looked a lot like a TV talk show for the past several months. It arrived with a smash, like that watermelon dropped out of a 10th-floor window by David Letterman. The rancor in the media has been reminiscent of a Jerry Springer show where daughters were surprised to find out their boyfriends were two-timing them with the girls' mothers. Finally, in response to the city officials playing Joan Rivers ("Can we talk?"), a public hearing on the issue is scheduled for tomorrow night at the Bangor Civic Center. [continues 698 words]
Dr. Sally Weiss (BDN, July 3) now comes forward to deliver her kicks at the lynching of methadone treatment ongoing in Bangor. Her ''two decades of experience demand expression''? Her experience with competing forms of treatment! Why is it that practitioners of these other forms of treatment feel so strongly that they must deprive Bangor patients of even the option of this proven treatment? Advocates of methadone do not say the other treatments must be banned. If Dr. Weiss really has two decades of experience, she would know that there are levels of severity. The new drugs she speaks of may help some cases, and Buprenex should definitely become part of the array of options Bangor presents against the temptations of heroin if it ever makes it out of this Congress, but even its staunchest supporters concede that its limited agonist activity will be woefully inadequate for advanced opiate addiction. Bangor citizens are being presented with a larger question, one which always ends up on the agenda in these controversies: Why don't they want us to have even the option of this treatment? Do any of these vocal opponents have children or loved ones who are addicted? If the subject were cancer, we'd be seeing the radiation therapy specialists trying to ban chemotherapy under the Bangor model currently working against methadone therapy. Look to their financial motives. I suggest Bangor put this to a vote, a vote of those whose families have been affected by this syndrome, not those whose incomes would be challenged by this superior treatment. Bangor must be a top-heavy town. Dave Michon, Spooner, Wis. [end]
The announcement this week that Bangor will hold an informational hearing about a planned methadone maintenance program here is a positive sign in an issue that has produced a lot of debate but not a lot of understanding. The City Council, Acadia Hospital, which would operate the program, and state officials should use this opportunity to turn what has been an acrimonious subject so far into something helpful for the community. Discussion on the subject, often angry, has mostly been on process - who was or was not informed, who gets to influence the decision, what sort of local task force is needed, how the effect on the city would be considered. Now, after several months, it is time to move forward, time to begin acting like a community that knows it has a serious problem in the abuse of heroin and other opiates and is committed to doing something about it together. An informational hearing is not a debate, not a place to say whether you would vote in favor or against a methadone program. Instead, it is a chance for state and local officials, doctors and other medical experts to explain what such a program means, how it operates and why it was proposed. It is a chance for city and hospital officials to set out a background against which it can form a committee to dig into the specifics of this issue. Mental Health Commissioner Lynn Duby is expected to offer the state's perspective at the hearing, but local ideas are needed, too. And law-enforcement officials, including those from cities that already have methadone programs, would be a helpful addition to the discussion. [continues 113 words]
Congress is sending $1.3 billion to Colombia for its war on drugs. The majority view, shared by the president, is that this is necessary because, after the coca leaves are harvested, processed and shipped, it inevitably becomes our war on drugs. The minority view is that Congress is sending $1.3 to Colombia to fight a civil war against insurgents who just happen to be supporting their rebellion by providing protection to the drug cartels because Colombiaís recent history of utterly corrupt government made rebellion the only option. [continues 377 words]
Having worked in a methadone clinic, and treated many people with substance abuse, be it alcohol, tobacco or narcotics such as heroin, two decades of experience demand expression. Addictions are not curable, but they are treatable. Many people find decades of Alcoholics Anonymous necessary to maintain sobriety; needing Narcotics Anonymous after only one year does not deem its program ineffective. Of the three substances I mentioned, heroin is not the most difficult to stop. Methadone is more difficult to stop than heroin, and as a treatment for addiction it is dated; there are newer, less toxic, less addictive treatments available. [continues 174 words]
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. [continues 736 words]
I read with great interest the article about the Mexican heroin drug bust (BDN, June 16). The Drug Enforcement Agency representative noted that illegal drug dealers-pushers primarily target methadone clinics to sell their illegal drugs. A reason for this is that patients receiving methadone are usually using other illegal drugs at the same time. The experience of the DEA has also shown that drug dealers-pushers can often infiltrate the methadone clinics and direct clients to their sources of illegal drugs, thereby increasing the traffic of illegal drugs in a community (the goal of drug dealers). [continues 232 words]
Helping Colombia expand its war against drugs will cost U.S. taxpayers $1.3 billion. Keeping American troops deployed in Kosovo and aiding Americans stricken by disasters here at home runs to an additional $4.1 billion. Rebuilding fire-damaged Los Alamos National Laboratory could go as high as $448 million. Important undertakings, important enough for Congress to agree to fund them with emergency legislation. Expensive undertakings, but not so expensive that they add up to the $12 billion Congress is considering. [continues 513 words]
BANGOR -- In another attempt by the city to avoid the state's proposal to open a methadone treatment clinic in Bangor, officials teamed up Monday with staff from the Northeast Occupational Exchange Inc. to announce a new "drug-free" opiate treatment program. Monday's press conference, called by the U.S. Attorney's Office Communities Against Heroin task force, was a new wrinkle in the ongoing, contentious debate about whether the city would benefit from a methadone program designed to treat heroin and opiate addicts. [continues 1258 words]
Recent arrests by police in Bangor and statewide should remove any doubts that Maine is seeing an increase in the use of heroin and the abuse of highly addictive prescription drugs. The recent compromise between the state and the city of Bangor to discuss treatment options, however, falls short of what's needed. Mental Health Commissioner Lynn Duby and City Council Chairman Michael Aube last week agreed to shelve a plan for an in-depth look at methadone and other types of treatment in favor of a public forum on the issue. A forum is a fine way to get a sense of what the public thinks about a methadone clinic and may even answer some basic questions about the drug. But it doesn't allow the city to participate in making formal recommendations about how to proceed. [continues 324 words]
BANGOR — A hotly debated proposal to locate a methadone clinic here took several turns Friday, ending with the dropping of a proposal to create a controversial task force to study the issue. Commissioner Lynn Duby of the Department of Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services announced on Friday the decision to scrap the proposed 20-member task force in favor of a single public forum to discuss the treatment of opiate addicts in Bangor. In what has become an often heated and notably political tug of war, state officials cited the city's recent objections to the task force's makeup as an impetus for the decision. [continues 911 words]
There has been a lot of discussion recently concerning the scourge of heroin and other opiate drug use in the Bangor area. I applaud the Bangor Daily News and U.S. Attorney Jay McCloskey for initiating this dialogue. We are all rightly concerned about our citizens and the impact of drug abuse on both the individual drug user and the city of Bangor. To date, the discussion has focused on how to treat the opiate-addicted individual. There are many viable options for helping people with drug problems. [continues 366 words]
BANGOR - State and federal drug investigators visited several pharmacies in eastern Maine this week in an effort to combat recent trends in prescription narcotics fraud and abuse, officials said. This week's action, dubbed an "intelligence mission" by state drug officials, centered on pharmacies in Penobscot and Washington counties, where reports of opiate misuse and diversion have sparked concern among law enforcement officials including the drug diversion team of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. "We're looking to identify any potential problems in the world of prescription drugs," said Peter A. Arno, supervisor at the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency in Bangor, describing the purpose of this week's random visits. "And everybody recognizes there's a problem." [continues 436 words]
The United States’ policy to criminalize the illness of drug addiction is an abject failure. Are we as a country so stupid we have to relearn the Prohibition lesson of the last century? We learned with alcohol abuse that the medical model (treating alcohol abuse as an illness) produces the best results by most measures. Isn’t it time to decriminalize other drug addictions? Methadone clinics are a step in the right direction. Franklin E. Bragg, M.D. Bangor [end]
As an emergency nurse in Washington County, I was horrified to read your first installment about the drug abuse problem in this area. Is there a problem? Absolutely. Is it getting worse? No question. I see the results of this abuse routinely and I know how wide-spread it is. To bring attention to the problem is important, however, your article read as a primer for those who may not yet have got involved with this unfortunate condition. For those in the audience who were not able to follow along by reading, you so very thoughtfully provided pictures. Responsible journalism? I think not. [continues 94 words]
I love this time of year for many reasons. Summer is heading this way, the days are longer and one of the best lessons in DARE takes place. Last week at Fairmount School, the role model lessons were held for fifth-graders. The concept is quite simple. Kids from Bangor High School and John Bapst Memorial High School come and share with the kids the importance of not using drugs, not resorting to violence to solve problems and the benefit of a good education. [continues 733 words]
Having approved the medicinal use of marijuana last November, Mainers will have to wait until at least this coming November, and possibly longer, before sick people can receive the drug. That may be for the best. LD 2580, a bill that would have put a registration and distribution system in place to get seized marijuana to the sick, was amended into a study commission led by the Attorney General's Office. That task force, which meets for the first time May 9, is expected to come up with ways to honor the voters' will by Oct. 1. [continues 694 words]
The op-ed commentary by U. S. Attorney Jay McCloskey about the metha-done clinic proposed for Bangor (BDN, April 13) causes me to respond. First, it is important to acknowledge that we are fortunate to have law enforcement officials in our community who are vigilant and concerned about the ever-increasing problems of illegal drug use. Acadia Hospital has always been supportive of efforts by law enforcement to reduce illegal drug use in our community. As U.S. Attorney McCloskey re-minded us recently, four heroin-related deaths in Bangor have occurred since 1998. What is important to know is that there are many more people being routinely treated for drug overdose in the emergency rooms of our local hospitals. [continues 900 words]
Being 41 and a lifelong resident of Washington County, I have witnessed with despair the growing horror of opiate addiction in Maine. I have watched as friends from all walks of life have succumbed to this deadly evil. I have seen how people have progressed from Percocet to OxyContin, to Dilaudid and other opiate substances in their ever-growing quest for the warm cuddly feeling. I have seen how loved ones can go from using Percocet to being daily users of the methadone clinic in Portland. I have noted that opiate addiction seems to start with recreational prescription drug use. Then when the script runs out addicts run to Bangor and cities south to fill their need with illegal heroin. [continues 191 words]
I applaud the BDN and Renee Ordway for two very informative articles on April 6, "Narcotics abuse on rise" and "Methadone clinic put on hold." I don ’t understand local law enforcement and the U.S. attorney’s opposition. Could it be job security? Why build a clinic when we have perfectly good jails? Tim Dunn, Carrabassett Valley [end]
