SANFORD — The news Monday that Spectrum Health Systems plans to close York County’s sole methadone clinic – citing lack of governmental financial support – has come at a time when addiction to heroin and other opiates is skyrocketing across Maine and overdoses are frequent.

The clinic opened in January 2014. For some, it has been a lifesaver.

Deputy Mayor Maura Herlihy said one young man spoke to her about the clinic. She estimated him to be in his late 20s or early 30s, and said he is doing well.

“He said the methadone clinic saved his life,” said Herlihy. She said the young man told her he’d been clean for a year.

“You can see the change in him,” she said.

The news of the pending closure of Spectrum Health Services clinic came Monday, two days before Gov. Paul LePage’s drug abuse summit. Company officials put the closure down to lack of governmental support for the nonprofit clinic.

Spectrum Health Systems operates several clinics in Massachusetts and began planning a Maine clinic in 2011, after Maine’s Office of Substance Abuse identified the need for methadone treatment in western York County, said Kristin Nolan, Spectrum’s vice president of outpatient care. There were community jitters in Sanford at first, and a moratorium until zoning parameters could be worked out. Eventually, Spectrum built a clinic in an industrial park in south Sanford, where clients come daily for methadone treatment and regularly for counseling sessions. About 100 patients are served at the clinic, which has the capacity to serve about 200.

It is closing, said Chief Operating Officer Kurt Isaacson, because the money the company receives through MaineCare for patient services has been cut twice in the past two years, and because there are not enough clients. Isaacson also pointed out that patients are supposed to get treatment from the clinic closest to them, but that is not enforced, and there’s a mileage incentive that often sends potential patients to Portland for treatment instead of Sanford.

John Martins, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said Maine spends more than $70 million annually on substance abuse services. He said in the 2014 fiscal year, $13.9 million was spent on methadone treatment services for 3,858 patients.

He noted Spectrum has chosen to close after being in Maine only for a short time. He said the clinic served 38 MaineCare patients in 2014 and 85 MaineCare patients in 2015.

“We are not certain if treating just two percent of those receiving treatment in Maine had a bearing on the decision to close,” Martins said. He said DHHS will work with patients to transition to other methadone clinics, and listed three in Portland and South Portland.

Spectrum itself will work to transition clients to other clinics and for some, said Isaacson, if another methadone clinic won’t work, Spectrum will wean clients down from methadone over time before they enter programs offering other treatment options, like suboxone or vivitrol.

Communities across York County have been seeing the effects of heroin and fentanyl laced heroin overdoses every day. And while many who overdose are revived through the use of Narcan, for some it is too late. There were three overdose deaths in rural York County all in one weekend earlier this year – two out-of-state visitors to Arundel died of overdoses, along with an out-of-state visitor to Limerick.

Preliminary data released by Attorney General Janet Mills last week show that during the first six months of this year, 37 deaths statewide were attributed to heroin and 26 primarily to fentanyl, a prescription pain medication often mixed with heroin and sold on the streets. In all of 2014, 57 people died of heroin overdoses, 43 primarily because of fentanyl, Mills said in a prepared statement. A county by county breakdown was not available.

News of the closure frustrated Sanford Police Chief Thomas Connolly.

“The only, dedicated, opiate treatment facility in the area is closing because the state will not reimburse for treatment,” said Connolly in an email. “And this occurs after one of the worst two month periods in Maine’s history for opiate overdose deaths!”

Connolly charged that state officials prefer to spend millions on enforcement, including the possibility of mobilizing the National Guard, rather than pay for what he described as the best evidence-based opiate treatment program.

“If you are an opiate abuser or addict, and you wake up one morning, get down on your knees, and ask God to give you the strength to stop using, where do you go; to whom do you turn,” Connolly said. “The answer is very simple – no one; nowhere,” he said, citing the lack of detox and rehabilitation services in the county.

While there are no other methadone treatment programs in York County, there are some other alternatives. A program operated by Southern Maine Health Care’s behavioral health unit Biddeford consists of 4-6 weeks of intensive outpatient care, and can include medication like Vivitrol, to help ease cravings. The Biddeford campus of Southern Maine Health Care also operates an inpatient program for people with who have acute mental health issues and addiction. The Milestone Foundation operates a 16-bed detox facility for men and women in Portland, and a 16-bed residential program for men in Old Orchard Beach, along with a residential program Portland facility.

York County Shelters operates three licensed residential programs for opiate dependency, available to those who have already detoxed and who are homeless. The shelter also provides individual and group counseling, along with other services, open to the public.

Crossroads operates outpatient counseling programs for men and women in Kennebunk and some other locations, and two residential programs for women in Cumberland County.

Our Father’s House, located in Saco, provides an array of faith-based programs.

Gov. LePage in a July 29 radio address said there’s money available for treatment, even for those who don’t have Medicaid or private insurance.

“In fact, we have hundreds of thousands of dollars left over every year in this program. We have the resources to help those who need it,” the governor said. In the address he urged people addicted to heroin or their loved ones to dial 211 if they need help paying for treatment. Specifics were not released.

Herlihy, Sanford’s deputy mayor, said the state’s mayor’s coalition is examining federal funding options for a program similar to one in Seattle called LEAD, which stands for Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, where those who commit low-level drug crimes are diverted into community-based treatment and support services instead of the courts. Gloucester, Massachusetts has adopted a similar program.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.