Opiates are among the most addictive substances in the United States. So many people have prescribed painkillers, whether for acute pain or chronic pain and end up having addiction by the time they are done with their prescription. The primary drug found in most prescription painkillers, such as OxyContin and Percocet, is an opioid called Oxycodone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 46 people die from overdoses involving prescription opioids every day. In 2017, prescription opioids continued to contribute to the epidemic in the U.S. – they were involved in more than 35% of all opioid overdose deaths.
That isn’t even counting the deaths due to heroin overdoses, which often stem from addicts starting with prescription opioids before switching to heroin. When people have a painkiller prescription that they have become dependent on and run out of refills or money, they usually go to heroin because it is cheaper, easier to obtain, and a more potent high.
Why was Suboxone Created?
Since this opioid crisis began, and even years before it was publicly recognized, there have been tests, experiments, and other trials and errors to help those addicted to opiates, such as heroin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, and others, to quit with minimal withdrawal symptoms successfully.
There are many ways an addict can detox from opiates, such as therapy, group support groups, natural herbs, cold turkey, and many more. Still, the one medication that has proven to be the best at safely getting addicts off the dangerous street, or prescription opiates is Suboxone. Unfortunately, the dark side is that many of those same individuals become hooked on the Suboxone itself and require a medical detox to get off the drug safely. If abused in large doses by opioid-naive individuals, Suboxone can create a euphoric high similar to heroin or other painkillers.
Suboxone Addiction
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NIH), Suboxone is the combination of buprenorphine and naloxone used to treat opioid dependence (addiction to opioid drugs, including heroin and narcotic painkillers). Buprenorphine is in a class of medications called opioid partial agonist-antagonists, and naloxone is in a class of medications called opioid antagonists. Buprenorphine alone and the combination of buprenorphine and naloxone work to prevent withdrawal symptoms when someone stops taking opioid drugs by producing similar effects to these drugs.
Since Suboxone is an opioid, can a user get high off it? Yes, it is still possible to abuse Suboxone if the user does not have a tolerance built up from a potent opioid, especially if it is smoked, snorted, or injected. The rush is less potent than traditional opioids, and if abused, there is a point where the high levels are off, and the user can’t get any higher.
When Suboxone is not being used as a component of a drug abuse treatment program, it has been used by heroin users in between doses, so they don’t go through withdrawal. It has also been used as a primary drug when a user is seeking an opioid-like high by inmates due to its ease of being sneaked into prisons.
Even though it is supposed to be part of a drug treatment program to get you off opioids, there has been a rise in users abusing it. According to the DEA, an estimated 21,483 emergency department visits were associated with nonmedical use of buprenorphine in 2011, nearly five times the 4,440 estimated number of buprenorphine ED visits in 2006. The American Association of Poison Control
Centers Annual Report indicates that U.S. poison centers recorded 3,732 case mentions, 2,160 single substance exposure cases, and five deaths involving toxic exposure from buprenorphine in 2016.
Get Off Suboxone With Allure Detox
Suboxone is successful when part of a drug treatment program and should only be prescribed and monitored by a certified physician. Medical detox programs are known to prescribe buprenorphine (the active ingredient in Suboxone) to opioid-dependent clients, and this is called Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT). Our medical detox program is a safe and comfortable process, one that will get you drug-free, sane, and healthy again from Suboxone dependence.