Doctors welcome decision to make access to new drug addiction treatment easier
Posted October 18, 2015 8:25 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A move by the provincial government to make access to another drug to help addicts give up opioids like heroin is being celebrated by doctors.
It was announced this week that doctors can directly prescribe Suboxone to patients and that the treatment will now be covered. There are some key differences between Suboxone and the more common treatments, according to UBC professor Dr. Evan Wood.
Dr. Wood says Suboxone doesn’t get you that high and it’s mixed with the antidote used to revive overdose victims. “It only partially turns on the receptor so it’s about six times less likely to cause an overdose than a full opioid agonist medicine like opium, or morphine or methadone.”
That means it’s more likely to bring on withdrawal symptoms if taken incorrectly, making it fairly worthless on the street.
