ROCKLAND, Maine — The Maine Department of Health and Human Services has issued a long-awaited license to a company that plans to open a methadone clinic in the city.
The bureau of licensing within DHHS issued the license Friday and it was mailed to the company, said DHHS spokesman John Martins on Tuesday.
Metro Treatment of Maine, part of Colonial Management LLC, has sought since last summer to open a clinic at the site of the former Turning Tide methadone clinic on Route 1 at the Thomaston town line. The DHHS license was the last one that the company needed before it could open.
The company has not said when it will open.
An estimated 400 patients will be using the new clinic.
Rockland, You guys just screwed up.
Treatment center advocates always say if you close the clinics, the crime rate will go up. Rockland take note of your rate of crime and monitor it, it will be going up. And I thought none of the clinics were going to be able to afford to operate with the state cuts
Hey brainiac! Those people are still living in the community, Rockland and the surronding area has hundreds of drug addicts living and working right now! Do you seriously think when the clinic closed they all went away?
What happened to the good ‘ole days when you went into a rehab center and got clean the natural way? Methadone is just a substitute for the drugs they are trying to get off from. People are becoming too lazy and don’t want to feel the pain for a couple of days detoxing. This is disgusting and I am so happy that I don’t have to be in Rockland! There are too many misfits in that town anyway…
first 3 sentences: /agree
last 2 sentences: we’re glad to not have you here. with your accusations of there being ‘too many misfits’, you sound like a piece of work yourself.
You didn’t have to go there!
I agree with you Joy. Methadone is income for life for the state, and jobs. Clean and sober, attending AA, and learning to live ‘drug free’ is NOT a moneymaker. AA educates , and empowers users to get off ‘all substances’ and live free. AA has worked wonders for many years. What has happened to Bangor since the methadone clinics arrived 10 yrs ago is no solution and has changed our community forever.
Why are AA groups quick to reject patients who are seeking treatment?
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The detox centers of the old days were medically assisted, there was round the clock nursing staff. This newer way of treating addicts with more drugs such as methadone, is not in any way better. This is just a way of ensuring the state makes big money from the pharmaceutical companies, while the addict remains addicted to yet another drug….yes this must be good. Pfft!
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I have close family members that have battled with addiction and have overcome it without methadone. I wasn’t meaning to go cold turkey (that’s no way to detox), but with the aid of medical staff at a rehab facility is what I said. Herion and opiate addiction is not a new thing and they certainly didn’t have that when going through detox in the 70’s, 80’s or even 90’s. I do know enough people that go to the clinic everyday (so they can’t hold down a job) to get their “fix” and have been going for over a year now. How is that rehabilitation?!!
=o=o=o=
So everyone is like your family members? Because they could do it the 3,000 people in methadone treatement can do it? Likely a large percentage have tried detox, if they could find a detox bed. Those beds are few. Even fewer after the service reimbursement was cut.
Because they found a way to make it a big dollar business.
yeah big dollars in treating these people. Do you often make assumptions? How about some facts, show us where providers are lining their pockets? She me where the people who work in the facilites are livig like Bill Gates!
Methadone treatment in 2005 cost about 4000 dollars per person per year with about 10% of that the cost of the drug . A four hundred person client list there is money to be made. With today’s prices I am sure there is even more to be made
http://www.treatmentmagazine.com/special-reports/115-americas-methadone-king.html
In Maine it is $3,224 per patient per year. Recent cuts resulted in revenue lost in excess of one million dollars. That is significant, many businesses would need to look at ability to operate. You’re basing your assessment on one organization, CRC. Amounts of reimbursement for service is State specific, ME is the lowest. You’re not including the cost of doing business, how much does it cost to run a methadone clinic? Methadone treatment is a business and people make profits, business owners make profits from detox, hospitals, pharmaceutical, mental retardation and mental health services. All those mentioned services produce much more in revenue, but why aren’t you complaining about those services? most are funded by tax dollars. Do you know the ROI on methadone treatment to the tax payer?
Lets look at the cost to house an addict in jail. In CA, which is comparable to other States the cost to house an inmate per day is $129.04 per day. 400 inmates cost you $6,710.08 per year. For the tax payer which is more cost effective? Methadone treatment. Now we know that recidivism is high in the correctional system. Thus, the $6,710.08 a year produce a small return. I can look up the exact numbers if you’re interested.
Forgot to mention that CRC is a healthcare group. They offer 7 different services over 19 States. If you set out to tell a story, the entire story should be told.
please look up the exact number of recidivism from people being sold a bill of goods called methadone. I think it is pretty high too…not that weaning off the stuff is even REMOTELY promoted…in fact, it is discouraged.
Again, ignorance, you’ve likely never been in a clinic and have drawn conclusions based on perception or someone who had a bad experience. When I was an administrator at a clinic we encouraged tapering. We had tapering groups, tapering individual, tapering readiness and tapering written into the treatment plan.
You yourself admit it is a business to make a profit and that was my original point. I realize some people benefit greatly from proper methadone treatment but to keep feeding them a drug and not wean them off it quickly is part of the problem with this system. As far as the rest of your comments concerning prisoners I wish I had time to argue with you about the whole if we keep them high then we wont have to pay for them in prison, but I do not right at this time.
It is a business, so is treating any disorder, hospitals are a business treating mental illness is a business. Government is a business. I’m not sure of your point. If you knew anything about methadone you would know the goal is not to get people “high”. Proper dose does not produce a high. Proper dose takes the craving away. Once the craving is away people can function and contribute to Society. With counseling to change behavior you can begin to get people off the methadone. Do not twist my words, I did not say anything about getting them high we wont have to pay, I gave you numbers comparing the cost of treatment to the cost of jail. If you send them to jail you stop the drug use, you do not change behavior. Once they are released they are highly likely to use again. You can’t wean people off quickly, all research indicates that two years is when you begin to make progress. You obviosly do not understand addiction. You do not want to discuss because you are out of research and fact based opinion.
Hey brainiac, look at the failure rate from people who detox. There is no easy fix. Is methadone the best solution? Maybe not, but it is effective. Methadone treatment is risk/harm reduction. The goal is to stabalize the patient so that they are not stealing, using needles which often leads to HIV/Hepatitis, or in jail costing tax payers more money then treating with methadone. Do your research before you make comments.
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Agree !
yeah let them go to jail, the uneducated do not realize that will cost more. Let them wander the streets untreated, see what that gets. All the opponents think they have the answer… I worked in one of these facilities and I had law enforcement officers, politicians, doctors, nurses, state workers, and school teachers. Many are hooked because the medical community prescribed addictive drugs to treat pain like they are candy! I even had a DEA Agent who became hooked. He was undercover and was in circumstances that caused him to use and he became addicted. Before you make judgements educate yourself.
i appears that EVERYONE who has an opposing opinion isn’t educated.
There have been no educated opinions expressed. I”m sure everyone is very smart. I would not offer an opinion on how to build a house since I don’t build houses, why would you offer an opinion, as fact when you are not an addiction professional? I take that back someone did through out a real revenue number but lacked in presenting a cost analysis.
I offer an opinion because you do not have to be an ‘addiction professional’ to have an informed opinion. I do however have some experience of the educational variety where methadone is concerned. I watched my sister-in-law sit drooling in a chair for a year she was so highly dosed and then I buried my 21 year old nephew from a methadone overdose 5 years ago…he had never been a clinic patient, he bought his right on the streets from a client who had earned ‘take-homes’ . I understand that patients only need state cravings to up the dose, and that weaning off is not encouraged…in fact it is highly discouraged. Oh, I am also a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, so i think i have earned my right to an opinion…
Those are unfortunate incidents. Because your nephew took methadone that wasn’t prescribed he overdosed. He likely took too much or was using a benzo or opiate with it. The person that sold their take homes should not have had take homes. Now you and I are on a level playing field. I do not believe in take homes. Incidents of people selling their take homes are too high. Clinics are forced, because of patient rights, to give take homes. The feds and State set standards that are too low. You are incorrect. I encouraged weaning and ensure that all treatment planning includes a plan to get off. So I think your experiences reflect that there is incompetence in the field. That is true of any medical field. Some of the incompetence contributed to getting people hooked, we call them the benzo docs that give out pain killers like they are candy! There is a problem in the system, especially when the State & Feds provide a license, like at Turning Tides to an owner who is in recovery. Risk to Society first, rights second. Methadone treatment is effective, it is the most cost effective form of treatment. It helps some, some abuse it. But how can people say methadone treatment is “bad”?
Detoxing. lol they get waivers and stay on it for years.
Colonial Management LLC is just a drug dealer.
Shw us the research before you run your mouth
There would be no methadone clinics invited to your city if they were not moneymakers. One addict will come to your city for ‘treatment’ aka lifelong dependency, and they of course will bring along 6 friends and family, aka ‘active users’. The free housing, medical, and food stamps that accompanies the ‘treatment’ benefits will draw them all in. Check Bangor’s crime rate since opening their first clinic 10 yrs ago.
Ignorance……..assumptions. Show us the numbers. Those people who were receiving treatment at Turning Tides were transferred mostly to Waterville. None of them moved to Waterville. Oh my God, did you ever think that these people are living near you,treated or untreated?
Oooohhhhhh boy!! It worked so well the last time!……….what?… Oh yeah, they got busted! Some will never learn!
Hooked on hard drugs, take methadone, get off the hard stuff……now hooked on methadone ! You just changed drug dealers, your still hooked!
Oh, please people.