It seems that yet again billions of dollars have been wasted on drug replacement therapy as a viable solution for drug addiction. Even worse is that it is yours and my tax dollars (that could otherwise actually help someone).
What I’m talking about is buprenorphine, which is sold by the names of Suboxone and Subutex. With a joint venture between the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Reckitt and Benckiser Pharmaceuticals this drug has been heavily touted as the greatest thing to treat opiate addicts. But then again, so was methadone at one point in time, and by now most of us are aware at how damaging, addictive and deadly methadone really is. We have people contacting us every week looking for methadone detox centers.
The kicker is that even as these co-conspirators pushed to make the drug more readily available, evidence of abuse of buprenorphine was kept hidden from the public at large, according to a recent series of articles by the Baltimore Sun.
The article claims that there are approximately 170,000 people in the Unites States on buprenorphine. All of whom were probably told the drug is the best thing for their condition. Now, we’re not debating the effectiveness of the drug to ease withdrawal symptoms on a short-term basis like a few days, but opiate addicts are being put on this drug now as a form of longer-term opioid maintenance.
Due to the fact that we get calls from people every week trying to get off of buprenorphine as well as methadone and they were told it was a workable treatment, we’ve now dubbed Suboxone and and Subutex as “methadone light.”
So what about people out there who aren’t on opiates? How does this story relate to them?
Well, the point is that as long as someone is taking one drug to treat an addiction to another, you’re never going to solve the problem completely. Whether it is atypical antipsychotics for methamphetamine users, antidepressants for alcoholics, anti-anxiety drugs for marijuana users, some new pill for cocaine addicts, etc., it is always only going to temporarily relieve the symptoms, at best.
We would like to extend to you an invitation to find a drug-free solution to addiction recovery that can end the struggle for good. Addiction can be overcome and is not a brain disease. Find out more by visiting Drug and Alcohol Rehabs or call 1-877-421-9659 to speak with a counselor.