By Renee Worthing
Register Reporter
   An emergency moratorium passed during the Dec. 4 town council meeting gave Sanford town councilors until March 3, 2008 to “thoughtfully respond” to Colonial Management Group’s interest in opening a methadone treatment center in Lower Mid-Town Mall, Sanford Town Council Vice Chairman Joe Hanslip said.
   “(The moratorium) is not permanent. If it is a work-in-progress, as this moratorium is coming close to its expiration date, it can be extended for another 180 days. But, I don’t believe we have the authority to say no methadone clinics in Sanford,” Hanslip said.
   He said if a methadone clinic expressed interest in opening in Sanford, a zoning process would determine an “appropriate” location.
   “I realize this probably isn’t a popular thing to say,” Hanslip said. “I don’t want anyone to think this is a silver bullet because it isn’t.”
   The moratorium provides town officials with a specific time frame in which they must define areas of town where a methadone clinic would be allowed, Chairman Anne Marie Mastraccio said.
   Town Attorney Bryan Dench would write the ordinance which would then be passed to the zoning sub-committee and the planning board, Town Manager Mark Green said, noting it would likely take six months for the entire ordinance revision to take place.
   Councilor Alan Walsh said the council is taking Colonial Management Group’s proposal seriously, but said town officials “must operate under the laws that regulate us.”
   Despite what Hanslip said, Councilor Brad Littlefield vowed to “fight a good fight.”
   “Although Councilor Hanslip is most likely right that we can’t stop this, if you, the public, tell me you want other actions taken, and that includes legal actions, and you back me, this councilor will demand that we take it to court. I am not allowing somebody coming to town when they’re not needed. We don’t have a problem here so why should we allow them here?”
   Councilor Gordon Paul said the methadone clinic was a “quality of life issue for the community” and said he is “100 percent against a methadone clinic anywhere in Sanford.”
   He said he did not want Sanford to be “noted on the map” as the first community to have a methadone clinic in southern Maine.
   “It’s not the kind of facility we need," he said. “I think it brings with it a lot of hidden problems that will only be realized once it’s allowed to come to the community and those problems will not be easily solved.”
   He cited concerns of strain on law enforcement manpower, economic development and social services.
   “This is one of those entities that if we allow this into our community and don’t take radical stance against it, once it’s here, we'll not be able to stop it. Sanford will be identified as a harbinger of a methadone clinic and I think we ought to do everything we can to prevent it,” Paul said.
   Four members of the public also voiced their concerns about the proposed clinic.
   Sanford Chamber of Commerce President Rick Stanley said he spoke to several local business owners about the proposed clinic.
   “Not one person is in favor of this in the downtown area,” he said. “It’s not conducive to the downtown area and will drive business people away.”
   Springvale resident Jennifer Escoto, who works as a probation officer in York County said her job brings her into contact with methadone clinic clients.
   “Why here? Why this area?” she asked. “This is not treatment, this is a way of life for these people. This is not something they wean off of. This is something they learn to manipulate.”
    She expressed concern about methadone being sold on the streets when clients are allowed to take their prescribed doses home after being on methadone for a period of time. She also cited concerns about what other treatment would be offered in conjunction with the methadone. She encouraged the council to consider whether counseling would be offered.
   “We can’t medicate America,” she said. “We can’t give them legal drugs to fix the problem.”
   She urged town officials and the public to “fight with everything we’re worth.”
   “We cannot and should not sit by and let this happen,” she said. “We need to be very, very careful of the stage we set because what’s going to play out is going to be horrific.”
    Councilor Kevin Chabot encouraged the public to continue to voice their concerns.
   “If this is something we’re going to defeat, we need to get everyone involved,” Chabot said.
   Sanford officials said Colonial Management Group Representatives were invited to the council meeting, but none were present.