Suboxone: A Wonderful Failure
Every year, a new “cure” is created for drug addiction and alcoholism. These “cures” generally come in the form of a new medication, designed to reduce cravings and the rate of relapse. First there was Antabuse for alcohol, then Methadone and Suboxone for opiates. Neither of these “cure-alls” fully handled a person’s addiction and inevitably just traded one addiction for another.
This is what a Narconon staff member recalled when asked about his experience with Suboxone:
“Back in the day, Suboxone was considered a ‘miracle pill’ for those of us that didn’t want to face the nasty withdrawal symptoms we would get when trying to get clean or when we couldn’t get dope or pills. For a while, everyone was getting on ‘Subs.’ My addict friends and I realized very quickly that Suboxone wasn’t the ‘silver bullet’ everyone said it was. I never took it like I was supposed to and I usually sold my pills to get heroin but kept a few for a ‘rainy day.’
“Suboxone is an opiate, just like heroin or Oxy’s. Its main ingredient is Buprenorphine and it’s mixed with Naloxone to prevent abuse. By using Naloxone, if I were to try and get high, I’d get thrown into the worst withdrawals possible. This drug was supposed to be an ultimate solution to my opiate addiction and I can tell you from personal experience that this drug caused more harm than good and NEVER got me clean.
“The first time I tried ’Subs’ I wasn’t a full-blown heroin addict yet. I actually got Suboxone from my drug dealer, telling me it would ‘shoot my ass to the moon.’ I actually got really, really high from it and spent the next 12 hours nodding in and out. Suboxone just doesn’t get you high if you’ve already got an opiate tolerance. It’s ridiculous to think that the first person to give me this drug was named ‘B’ instead of Dr. So and So.
“After finding myself badly addicted to heroin, I went online and Google searched ‘Suboxone Doctors’ and made an appointment with the cheapest one. Getting my prescription was easier than it should have been…I met with the doctor and a few questions later he handed me a prescription slip. For the first couple of days taking it, I still wanted to get high. It didn’t take my cravings away as promised. It eventually just became my solution to not feel sick after I had run out of heroin. It enabled me to feel well enough to go steal, rob or do whatever I had to do to make money for heroin. Some of that money was actually made by selling my Suboxone to other junkies and dealers.
“When it comes to Suboxone, some could say:
‘Well, at least they’re not on heroin.’
“It’s true that when people take it they aren’t going to ‘fall out’ in their car parked behind the supermarket, however, they are running around, hustling up money and committing crimes to get their drugs. While some people think Suboxone isn’t as destructive as heroin, it’s certainly NOT a solution.
“When I would stop taking it, the withdrawals were 10 times worse than trying to kick heroin and lasted much longer. The physicians and ‘street doctors’ never warned me about that little tid bit.
“Suboxone didn’t handle my addiction AT ALL. It just helped me trade one drug for another and kept me from getting sick. In actuality, it did nothing but perpetuate and further my addiction. I became addicted to BOTH heroin and Suboxone.
“I’m now an ex-heroin addict and I’ve finally gotten clean. Years of trying Suboxone, going to countless rehabs and attending more meetings than I can count, never did a single thing to help me. No drugs or meetings played any part in my recovery process.
“More drugs aren’t the solution to a drug problem. To me, that is painstakingly obvious. There are many conditions that need to be present to achieve recovery. I failed miserably to get sober many, many times. My family and I had given up all hope that I would ever ‘get it.’
“What finally worked for me was going to a treatment center that helped get my entire body clean and off of all drugs, which ACTUALLY helped my cravings. It then helped me to figure out why drugs became a solution to all my life’s problems.
“My advice to anyone out there, struggling to get sober, is that using Suboxone is NOT AN ANSWER! Stop taking it and get off it now! Get to a real treatment center that’s going to handle your cravings and handle your underlying issues and NOT put you on MORE drugs as a solution to your addiction.”
T.D.
