NORWAY – The few townspeople at the special town meeting Thursday night voted unanimously to extend the ban on methadone clinics here another six months. This will give local officials more time to study how to better control the treatment centers if they ever proposed moving into this area.
A little more than two dozen people voted, including the selectmen, the town manager and the citizens who came to the meeting for other purposes.
Last summer at a town meeting, residents voted to temporarily forbid methadone clinic construction in Norway after it became known that a for-profit clinic was looking to possibly move into the region.
Methadone is used to wean addicts off drugs like heroin and OxyContin. The clinics are controversial, partly because some worry they could bring more crime to the area.
For the last six months, town officials from Oxford, Paris and Norway have been meeting once or twice a month to discuss ways of managing methadone clinic development here.
They have reviewed the site plans as well as drafted proposed state legislation that would give the state more control over the licensing process of these facilities.
Town Manager David Holt said at the meeting, “We’re just not done,” referring to the work the tri-town committee still needs to do to regarding the issue.
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