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Opiate Addiction
- Suboxone / Subutex / buprenorphine
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This is a medication that serves as a "partial agonist" for the
treatment of opiate and narcotic abuse. It is a schedule III opiate
medication FDA approved for the treatment of opiate dependence. It has no
desirable "high", even if taken in large doses, because it does not fully
activate the body's opiate receptors. Think of it as an opiate with a
"governor" or built-in speed limiter or as having a "ceiling
effect". This makes buprenorphine very
safe because it is difficult to "overdose". Buprenorphine also
interferes with the ability of other opiates to make someone "high" because
it is "sticky" and other opiates have to get it off the receptors before
they can work.
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) requires special training
and special "waiver" in order to prescribe
Suboxone. There is also a federally designated limit to the number of
patients a practitioner can treat, making access to Suboxone a precious
limited resource.
(Suboxone is buprenorphine mixed with another drug that is an INACTIVE
INGREDIENT when taken as prescribed. This drug, Naloxone, is an
antagonist or "antidote" to opiates. When taken sublingual or orally
it is essentially not absorbed into the blood, When Suboxone is taken
sublingually as directed, this other ingredient has no significant effect. However, if Suboxone is crushed and "cooked" and injected intravenously,
the Naloxone RIPS EVERY OPIATE OFF EVERY OPIATE RECEPTOR in the body!
This would cause immediate severe withdrawal and be extremely unpleasant!
This other drug is mixed in ONLY to ruin Suboxone abuse for needle users.
Active opiate addicts will avoid injecting Suboxone as if it were a poison!)
Alcohol Addiction
- Vivitrol / Naltrexone
You may be surprised to learn that medicines used to counteract opiates
are also successful in the treatment of other addictions. It turns out
the opiate antagonist Naloxone, when used alone, significantly helps
alcoholics stop drinking and reduces the craving for alcohol. It has
been shown in studies that the use of Vivitrol in alcoholics increases the
chance of finding abstinence and sobriety. A simple injection that works
for an entire month can make the difference between success and failure in
recovery from alcoholism.
Antabuse
Disulfiram works by changing the way the body metabolizes
alcohol. If you drink alcohol while taking disulfiram you
become very ill. This medicine works well when taken in the
morning when most alcoholics can realize their desire to escape from
their disease. The morning "angel" who doesn't want to drink
takes the medication and sabotages the afternoon and evening "devil"
who wants to take control of the person and drink. Many people
do well by this method of inoculating the survivor against the
behavior of the addict.
- Methamphetamine / Cocaine / Stimulant Addiction
There are numerous other prescription drugs that work in a variety of
ways to help addiction to methamphetamine and other stimulants such as
cocaine. Stimulant abuse is an especially difficult problem in the
field of addiction medicine. Amphetamines increase the brains
"reward" neurotransmitters 400% more than other drugs of abuse!
It takes a great deal of work to recover from amphetamine addiction, and
several prescription drugs help restore function to normal.
Provigil
is a medication normally used to treat narcolepsy (a rare disorder
where people are unable to stay awake and pathologically fall asleep at
inappropriate times). Provigil works by stimulating the "awakeness"
part of the brain, but it does not produce any intoxication or "high".
Using this drug as a "replacement" for stimulant addiction shows promise in
helping people find recovery.
Buproprion, an antidepressant that works by changing the
balance of neurotransmitters in the brain an may improve success in treating stimulant addiction.
Antabuse, amazingly, appears to
reduce cravings for stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine, and seems
to reduce the "high" people experience. We don't yet know why it has
this effect, and may help in the treatment of stimulant addiction.
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San Luis Obispo
Addiction Recovery
Center 
Treat Addiction -- Save Lives