Heroin Addiction: Suboxone Treatment

Heroin Addiction treatment with suboxone has been very successful over the past few years, and only recently has been used in the United States as a detoxification medicine. Suboxone is combination of buprenorphine and buprenorphine HCI and naloxone HCI dihydrate. Buprenorphine was originally to control pain ‘Subutex’ (without the naloxone) and was available as an injectable drug though out the United States. It has been used as an opiate detoxification medication through out Europe since the middle 1980’s and was available in the form of a tablet.

Suboxone comes as a sublingual (dissolves under the tounge) orange tablet in the shape of a hexagon. It ratio of 4:1 Suboxone: Naloxone. The naloxone was added to deter addicts from abusing suboxone as an injectable drug. If an addict tries to inject suboxone they would become very sick because the naloxone removes opiates from the receptors causing withdrawls.

Suboxone is not a full opiate and is partial agonist therefore making it impossible to overdose on. This renders the drug as a safe way to detox from heroin or other opiates and in turn regular liscenced physicians can prescribe this medicine to their patients to keep at home. In addition the drug will block any opiates the addict may try to use so they cannot feel the drugs effects. This enables the addict to get back on track fairly quickly if they should have a relapse.
Unlike its counterpart methadone, suboxone is much easier for opiate dependants to detox safely and without suffering the effects of withdrawl fairly quickly. Suboxone can be used as a maintenance treatment in which the addict stays on the drug for an extended period of time eliminating the need to return to their opiate addiction. Heroin Addiction Treatments with methadone can work well for most opiate addicts but the problem is getting them off of the methadone. Methadone is usually used as a maintenance treatment.

Suboxone comes in 2mg, 4mg, and 8mg tablets making it easy for doctors to prescibe amounts that are necessary and then to eventually decrease the suboxone until the a is completely off of the suboxone and opiate free. You may also want to take a look at methadone treatment as way of treating an opiate or heroin addiction.