FDA Approves Injectable Subutex
Oh, the innovations bred by the drug epidemic. This crisis has been a true test of man’s creativity when trying to solve a problem. Earlier this year, a heroin vaccine was in the works to help prevent future addiction, kratom is being hailed as the newest “silver bullet” for opioid withdrawal, and street dealers are finding the newest, cheapest fentanyl analogues to import into the country and sell on virtually every street in every city. It seems that all the professionals, all the doctors, and even political figures are trying to solve the wrong problem. And it’s getting frustrating.
Before I get into all that, let’s discuss the newest government creation to handle the opiate problem. Buprenorphine has been around for a while. It’s an opiate that’s used to get addicts through painful opiate withdrawal symptoms and often prescribed long-term as a way of preventing relapse. Suboxone and Subutex are two of the most popular formulations. Suboxone is a mix of buprenorphine and naloxone and Subutex is just straight buprenorphine. Basically, it’s a way of just substituting one drug for another and is often used in place of going to rehab and handling the actual reasons a person uses drugs. All it does is give a quick fix to make all the bad feelings go away. Well, it’s those bad feelings that need to get handled before a person can even dream of staying sober.
The FDA just approved an injectable form of buprenorphine that’s designed to be administered on a monthly basis by a physician. The usual formulations of “bupe” come in the form of a sublingual pill or film that melts under the tongue. These formulations need to be taken every day to be effective and often, these pills or films wind up being sold illegally on the street. It’s not unusual for addicts to trade their “subs” for heroin or other drugs. So, with this fancy, new, and convenient way of taking buprenorphine, the hope is that it will cut down on black market sales of the drug and the addict won’t have to remember to take their meds every day.
Anyone who has read my articles knows that I am not a fan of medicine-assisted treatments. In my opinion, it just puts a temporary band-aid on the problem rather than actually fixing it. Like I said at the beginning of this article, I believe everyone coming up with the next “miracle cure” for opiate addiction is trying to solve the wrong problem. The problem isn’t the drugs. The problem isn’t the fact that opiate addicts have to kick when they stop using pills or heroin. The real problems are the reasons a person uses drugs in the first place. They’re both mental and emotional issues that need to get dealt with in order for a person to get and stay sober. The drugs that addicts use are solutions to these problems that existed in their lives way before the drugs ever did. One day they found out that drugs temporarily handled these problems and then the rest was history.
Quick fixes are never the answer and the FDA needs to seriously stop creating new solutions to the wrong problems. Proper drug rehab and substance abuse treatment is the only way out of addiction. When are we going to learn that drugs aren’t the solution to drugs? If we don’t wake up we’re going to continue on the never-ending hamster wheel of drugs and medicine-assisted treatment.
Sources Used:
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/fda-approves-monthly-injection-for-opioid-addiction-1512161372
