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Suboxone is mainly used for the treatment of opiate dependence and addiction. It's sort of like a new and improved version of methadone. But unlike methadone, it has fewer side effects, and you cannot overdose on it.

Basically, buprenorphine (the active ingredient in Suboxone) is a semi-synthetic opioid that does not get you high. The opiate addict replaces their drug of choice -- heroin, oxycodone, morphine, whatever -- with Suboxone. That way, they can stop getting high without suffering a long and painful opiate withdrawal. Opiate withdrawal is extremely painful and lasts weeks -- months, even -- and this is what keeps most addicts from quitting, even when they desperately want to.

Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction; it simply enables you to quit getting high without suffering withdrawal. When you are on Suboxone, you are still addicted to opiates. It's just that you're now addicted to Suboxone instead of heroin or morphine or oxy. It's "opioid replacement therapy," the same way nicotine patches and gums are "nicotine replacement therapy."

Its sister drug, Subutex, does the same thing, but Subutex is pure burprenorphine, while Suboxone has an added ingredient called naloxone. The naloxone blocks the opiate receptors in your brain, so you cannot get high on any opiate while you're on Suboxone. This prevents relapse, since you literally cannot get high no matter how hard you try. The naloxone also makes it impossible to melt down and shoot up the Suboxone, which is perfectly possible with Subutex.

Subutex and Suboxone are also used for pain management, usually long-term pain. Since it doesn't get you high, it is less addictive than other opiate painkillers.

Subutex and Suboxone are also sometimes used to treat depression, though I believe that is still in the experimental stage.

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12y ago

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