Shouldn’t Suboxone be Over-the-Counter?

These days you can buy fentanyl and heroin without a prescription very easily. Once addicted and chemically dependent, people can be pretty indiscriminate about what they put into their bodies to avoid full blown withdrawal. And the potency of fentanyl in particular can vary enormously and this is why use of this drug often leads to lethal overdoses.

Buprenorphine, with or without naloxone (as in Suboxone) comes in consistent strength, doesn’t induce the kind of euphoria the other opiates cause, doesn’t cause depression with long term use and doesn’t cause respiratory depression (stopped breathing) anywhere close to what other opiates do.

In fact, the risk of dying from an opiate drug overdose is reduced by 50% once somebody is prescribed buprenorphine.

https://acdw.substack.com/p/a-quick-and-easy-way-to-save-lives

So it’s a little bit like nicotine patches, which can keep you from inhaling the slowly lethal effects of cigarettes.

This may be a little provocative, but it’s no joke. Comments are welcome…