ROCKLAND, Maine — Two years after the sole local methadone clinic was shut down by the state and federal governments, the opening of the new one continues to await a state inspection.
A state spokesman said Tuesday that the inspection will take place within the next two weeks.
An estimated 400 patients will be using the new clinic.
Colonial Management LLC has been seeking state approval since last year for its proposed Metro Treatment of Maine methadone clinic to be located in Rockland. City officials had said in January that Colonial was expecting to open six months ago but was waiting for a state license.
In April, Guy Cousins, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse, said the only license remaining was one from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
On Tuesday, John Martins, communications director for DHHS, said the Division of Licensing and Regulatory Services will do the inspection within two weeks.
“After which it would take less than three days to issue a license if the facility passes muster,” Martin stated in the response for information from the Bangor Daily News.
Rockland’s code enforcement office inspected sidewalks and exterior lighting last week at Metro of Maine in anticipation of the opening of Metro Treatment of Maine’s clinic on Route 1 at the Thomaston townline.
The Rockland facility will open ahead of the one proposed by CRC Health at a location about nine miles south on Route 1 in Warren.
Martins said CRC had filed an application for a DHHS license but later withdrew it.
CRC has been trying to get approval from Warren for a methadone clinic to be located at the intersection of Short Street. The Warren Planning Board approved the project last month but neighbors soon after filed an appeal.
Warren Town Manager Grant Watmough said Tuesday that the Zoning Board of Appeals will meet Thursday, July 19, at which time it will consult with its attorney William Kelly. The town manager said he expects the Board of Appeals to hold the hearing on the appeal from CRC neighbors sometime in August.
CRC has sought to get approval of a methadone clinic in Warren since the fall of 2010.
The Board of Selectmen had initially given approval to selling a former school building to Robert Emery, who was going to lease the property to CRC.
A storm of protest from the public caused the board to drop the sale plans.
Residents enacted a 180-day moratorium on methadone clinics in March, 2011, and then approved regulations for such clinics.
CRC sued the town in federal court in May 2011, claiming that its actions, as well as efforts to impose new regulations, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Local residents then voted in September to settle the case contingent on the planning board taking action on CRC’s application. But the lawsuit remains pending in U.S. District Court in Portland.
The town filed a motion on June 29 asking the court to enforce terms of a settlement reached last year between the town and CRC. The town argued in its June 29 filing that Warren has approved the clinic.
The former Turning Tide clinic in Rockland was closed by state and federal officials in August 2010 after its director and a counselor were charged with drug offenses.
And now we know that the predatory CRC is owned by Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital. Got that all you Warren Republicans? Your candidate is screwing our town!
Hows that?
Huh?
Legalized drug dealers by any other name
…
I don’t know anything about the history of Bain Capital, but you got the part right about Bob Emery screwing the town over by inviting in his new drug pushing friends. Emery lost many friends in that money venture and lost the respect of many.
I would like to say on the methadone clinic in rockland that i think its a great idea as long as its run by the right people.I was born and brought up in rockland,I do not live there any more for reasons that i was taken care of my mom cause she was sick but also to get help at the methadone clinic in winslow,it was the closest one and i couldnt afford to travel everyday so i had to move here.But i know alot of people that have drug problems in rockland that can not travel that distance so they need this clinic,there will be alot less crimes and drug seeking.If it wasnt for the clinic i dont know where i would be today and what i tell those people that dont want the clinic there Dont judge if they had a loved one that was an addict they would understand.
If you have a loved one who is an addict, tell them to get some real treatment. Methadone treatment is like trying to quit smoking by smoking.
nannasmith45, did the clinic you went to wean you off the methadone? Not judging, just asking. That is the one thing I do not like about these clinics is that many want patients to be hooked for life, so it becomes more about the money than helping somebody kick a bad habit.
How many of these drug clinics do we need in this area to push this sh**?????
Maybe they will soon be making more messed up babies in Rockland. Send the bill to Mitt and the Boys.