Suboxone

Buprenorphine (brand names Suboxone and Subutex) is a medication used to treat addiction to heroin or prescription pain killers like OxyContin.

Suboxone Says Goodbye To The Little Orange Pill

Suboxone maker Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals Inc. confirmed recently that the company has decided to stop selling Suboxone tablets in the US. No more little orange pills. The company will continue to sell Suboxone film (small strips that dissolve under the tongue). Suboxone is a treatment for opioid dependence. Reckitt says that the change will likely happen within the next six ... Read More

Methadone and Suboxone Best Treatment Options for Pregnant Women

Pregnant women who are addicted to heroin or prescription pain relievers should be treated with either methadone or buprenorphine (Suboxone, Subutex). This according to new guidelines recently published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. I wasn’t surprised by the new guidelines, because similar recommendations have already been made by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization, ... Read More

Suboxone Treatment Cuts Crime, Incarceration

Suboxone is incarceration prevention in a bottle. A wonderful “side effect” of Suboxone treatment is that it helps keep people out of trouble and out of jail. Suboxone treatment is associated with big drops in criminal activity and incarceration, a recent study shows. Only 2 percent of opiate-dependent people treated with Suboxone reported committing crimes as compared to 19 percent of those ... Read More

Is Suboxone Treatment Just a Crutch?

A crutch is something that you lean on for support during a period of recovery. You sprain your ankle, and use a crutch to help support your weight while you heal. I have to shake my head in disgust when I hear AA and NA members criticize Suboxone treatment as a “crutch.” What is a 12-step group if not a crutch? And ... Read More

Pregnant Inmate on Methadone Asks for Early Release to Get Suboxone

Pregnant inmate Ashley Michelle Sligh says that the methadone treatment provided by the Duval County (FL) jail will cause harm to her unborn child. She wants to be released early so that she can switch from methadone to buprenorphine. Medical experts have long recommended methadone treatment for pregnant women who are opiate dependent. But a new study funded by the National Institutes ... Read More

Young/Recent Addicts Benefit from Longer Suboxone Treatment

Opiate dependent young people ages 15-21 did better with 12 weeks of treatment with Suboxone as opposed to a 2 weeks of treatment with Suboxone. This according to new research funded by NIDA (US National Institute on Drug Abuse). The findings held true even for teens and young adults with shorter durations of addiction. Better outcomes included better treatment retention, ... Read More

Diverted Methadone and Buprenorphine Used for Self-Help Recovery

Prescribed methadone and buprenorphine (Suboxone/Subutex) sometimes becomes diverted (lost, stolen, sold) and ends up in the hands of people who do not have a prescription. A new study found that the overwhelming majority of people who used diverted medication used it either to avoid withdrawal or to stop using heroin. A couple of observations: 1. People didn’t use the diverted medication to ... Read More

Is Suboxone Controversial?

I know what people mean when they say Suboxone is “controversial.” But I think a better way to describe it would be to say that medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine (Suboxone) is stigmatized by people who have a philosophical opinion about medication-assisted treatment. To me, it’s not the treatment that is controversial. What stirs controversy is the refusal of some in the recovery ... Read More

Top Two Reasons for Suboxone Treatment Failure

On the issue of “treatment failures” with Suboxone… Yes, they do happen, and are not uncommon. Usually, the treatment fails the patient because of one of two issues: 1. The medication is not strong enough to effectively block cravings for some people with a history of heavy opiate use. Buprenorphine dosing includes a “ceiling effect” at which point increasing doses ... Read More

Generic Subutex Now Available in Pharmacies

Roxane Laboratories, Inc. announced FDA approval of their generic version of Subutex in October, 2009. My local pharmacist told me that his distributor just made it available for him to order yesterday. The generic form is much cheaper than Subutex, and the pharmacist told me that he thinks all pharmacies will carry it soon. The bad news is that there ... Read More

Suboxone Patients Not Sick, Not Craving, Not High…Just Normal

If you talk to people who have prescribed Suboxone, you may hear them say that there is a “blocker” in Suboxone that prevents them from feeling high if they use opiates such as Oxycontin or heroin. Suboxone is a medication used to treat opiate dependence. Suboxone contains two active ingredients: buprenorphine and naloxone. Many people are under the impression that ... Read More

Pregnant, Jailed and Denied Prescribed Suboxone

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a young, pregnant woman in Montana who was jailed and denied her prescribed buprenorphine (Suboxone, Subutex) putting her health and pregnancy at serious risk. See a video interview of the young woman, her name is Bethany Cajune, and her lawyers below. I think it’s interesting that the ACLU chose to frame ... Read More

Other Resources:

National Alliance of Advocates for Buprenorphine Treatment

US Government Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services

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