Truth about Suboxone

Truth about Suboxone

While suboxone has opened a new frontier of treatment for opiate addiction, it also threatens to split the recovering and treatment communities along opposing

battle lines. Such and outcome would be a huge missed opportunity to improve the lives of opiate addicts.

The downside of suboxone:

Practitioners in traditional AODA treatment programs will see suboxone as at best a mixed blessing. Desperation is often required to open the addict’s mind to change, and desperation is harder to achieve when an addict has the option to leave treatment and find a practitioner who will prescribe suboxone. Suboxone is sometimes used ‘on the street’ by addicts who want to take time off from addiction without committing to long term sobriety. Suboxone itself can be abused for short periods of time, until tolerance develops to the drug. Snorting suboxone reportedly results in a faster time of onset, without allowing the absorption of the naloxone that prevents intravenous use. Finally, the remission model of suboxone use implies long term use of the drug. Chronic use of any opiate, including suboxone, has the potential for negative effects on testosterone levels and sexual function, and the use of suboxone is complicated when surgery is necessary. Short- or moderate-term use of suboxone raises a host of additional questions, including how to convert from drug-induced remission, without desperation, to sober recovery, which often requires desperation.