BANGOR AREA NEEDS BETTER DRUG DEBATE

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.

That hearing will say a great deal about us and little about the real
methadone clinic issues unless we abide by a few rules at this and future
hearings.

First, if you want to play in the methadone public hearing sandbox you
should have some idea what you are talking about. Knowing something about
methadone has not been a requirement of participation in the debate thus
far, but it should be. An informed opinion about whether this community
should have a methadone clinic cannot be developed from what has appeared
in the media. The quality of public discussion would be markedly improved
if the principals would hand out a "methadone primer" at the hearing room
door, a primer that included the following:

- Concise, written position statements from the principals (the city of
Bangor, the local federal attorney, Acadia Hospital, etc.), limited to
about 1,500 words each. All claims pro and con would have to be backed up
by references to studies and research, listed so the readers could look
them up. If Acadia Hospital's position is that methadone is a legitimate
and necessary treatment, and that methadone clinics do not harm their host
communities, let's see the beef. If the federal attorney and other law
enforcement officials think otherwise, prove it by citing data that the
rest of us can examine ourselves.

More importantly, prove that stepped-up law enforcement against heroin use
works better than treating addicts with methadone. It may work in Bangor,
but the current national model of treating drug addiction primarily as a
law-enforcement problem has been an abject failure notable for
incarcerating more Americans per capita than any other country in the world.

- Basic data about methadone, about heroin, and more data about the
dimensions of the heroin problem in this region.

- Those position statements should then be reprinted in the Bangor Daily News.

Such a document would serve to elevate the quality of the public hearings
by holding up contradictory claims to the light of day, minimizing time
necessary to cover basic positions, and maximizing time for the public to
ask its questions. If the principals or the BDN prepare such a primer, you
should have to read it to get into the hearings. There would, of course, be
a quiz on the material at the door.

Second, certain people should stay home from Wednesday's hearing, and
future public hearings:

- Those who think that a community's heroin problem will go away if ignored.
Their time should be spent fantasizing that if you do not tell teen-agers
about birth control they will not have sex;

- Those who think Bangor should not have a methadone clinic just because it
will attract the wrong element to town. There may be reasons Bangor should
not have a methadone clinic, but any community that reaps billions of
dollars in benefits from being a regional center should not be complaining
because people of all stripes come here for the services of a regional
center. With the benefits come the obligations to serve the region as a
resource for care;

- Those who set their VCR's to record some reality TV show while they are at
the hearing.

Third, it is time for a better debate on methadone than the one we have had
heretofore. It is most unfortunate that the leaders of Bangor's mental
health community, city government, and law enforcement, and relevant state
government agencies have thus far defined themselves by their differences
on this critical issue. If they were adolescents together they could not
organize a nighttime skinny-dipping session in the town pool .In the
upcoming public hearing, they would do well to distinguish themselves by
the quality of their arguments and their collective leadership. Those of us
watching would like to see how well they can work together during this and
future discussion.

Otherwise, there is always Jerry Springer on Line 1.

Note: Erik Steele, D.O. of Bangor is the administrator for emergency
services and pre-hospital care at Eastern Maine Medical Center and is on
the staff for emergency department coverage at six hospitals in the News
coverage area.