Maine Methadone Program Director Faces Charges September 8, 2005
News Summary
The director of a Portland, Maine methadone clinic faces criminal and civil charges over alleged diversion of the drug, the Boston Globe reported Sept. 6.Marc S. Shinderman, director of CAP Quality Care in Westbrook, is accused of falsifying records and violating regulations designed to prevent diversion of methadone to illicit use. Maine has been hit with a number of methadone-overdose deaths, with some of the drugs involved traced back to methadone clinics. Neither Shinderman or CAP are accused of directly causing any deaths, however.
Shinderman, who also operates clinics in Illinois, is an advocate of high-dose methadone treatment for opiate addiction. A civil complaint filed against CAP says that some take-home doses of methadone distributed by the clinic were later found to have been taken by non CAP patients who overdosed.
A lawyer for Shinderman countered that most methadone overdose deaths were traced to drugs prescribed by doctors for pain or stolen from pharmacies; a study in Portland, Maine found that about half of the methadone involved in overdose deaths in the city came from clinics, while the rest came from other sources.
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