PORTLAND (AP) – A methadone clinic and its outspoken medical director are facing both civil and criminal charges for alleged violations of rules concerning Medicaid administration and controlled drugs.

According to the government, Marc S. Shinderman falsified records and ignored regulations designed to prevent diversion of methadone, which was cited as a factor in the high number of overdose deaths in 2002.

Neither Shinderman nor the clinic is charged directly for causing any of the 28 overdose deaths that year.

Shinderman’s attorneys would not address the specific allegations, but said the aggressive investigation of CAP Quality Care in Westbrook reflects a conflict between different branches of the government over the best way to treat narcotics addiction.

Some members of law enforcement agencies see the clinics as a source of illicit drugs in the community, while the treatment community sees them as necessary to control drug use, said Jay McCloskey, Shinderman’s defense lawyer.

Shinderman has operated methadone clinics in Maine and Illinois for more than 30 years and has been a celebrated and controversial figure in the addiction treatment community.

He is a champion of high dosage methadone treatment, which he says reduces the chances that a patient will relapse and return to drug use. Methadone is a synthetic narcotic used to treat those addicted to heroin and other opiates.

A single dose of methadone usually lasts for 24 hours, meaning patients have to go to a clinic every day or receive take-home doses for a week or more.

McCloskey says state officials encouraged CAP to provide take-home doses to its patients so addicts in remote areas could take advantage of methadone therapy.

A civil complaint makes references to several instances in which methadone taken home from CAP Quality Care patients ended up in the hands of others who overdosed.

But McCloskey says those anecdotes don’t present an accurate picture. State and federal studies that show that the vast majority of overdose deaths caused by diverted prescription drugs are prescribed by doctors or stolen from pharmacies, he said.

A study looking at the methadone deaths in Portland found that half were attributable to clinic methadone, while the rest came from other sources.

Shinderman is scheduled to appear in court Thursday for an arraignment on the criminal charges. His attorney said he will plead not guilty and make the government prove its case before a jury.

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, https://www.pressherald.com

AP-ES-09-06-05 1911EDT