Methadone has long been the “go to” treatment for those dealing with addiction to heroin and other opiates and opioids. Because a single dose allows addicts to get through a day, and because it survives the digestive system (and therefore doesn’t need to be injected) it has been viewed as a manageable and palatable option for dealing with addiction. But there are major problems associated with its use. For one, in some ways, it’s more addictive than heroin. It’s also dangerous. The American Center for Disease Control estimates that methadone is responsible for one-third of all prescription painkiller-related deaths. Exchanging one addiction for another that is also dangerous and crippling is far from an ideal solution, and health care providers and addiction professionals have been clamoring for better alternatives for years. Let’s take a look at three alternative treatments that can offer worthwhile alternatives…
1) Suboxone
The main component of suboxone is a drug called buprenorphine. Like methadone, buprenorphine is a synthetic opioid which can reduce or eliminate the symptoms of withdrawal. Suboxone, the leading version of buprenorphine, also contains a substance called naloxone, which causes severe and unpleasant side-effects if the substance is injected. It is included to reduce the potential for abuse. Suboxone was approved for use in the USA in 2002, and it has become wildly popular. In 2013 the drug racked up $1.55 billion in sales, more than Adderall and Viagra combined!
Suboxone treatment has a number of advantages over methadone. It has less potential for abuse, because of the inclusion of naloxone. It is also much safer. A 6 year study conducted by researchers in England and Wales found that methadone was over 6 times more likely to cause overdose deaths than buprenorphine, with 2,366 deaths associated with methadone use, and only 52 related to buprenorphine.
Suboxone has proven to be a valuable tool for reducing the harm caused by addiction. It can offer a sufferer all of the benefits of methadone treatment, along with reduced risk of overdose, death, and abuse. However, like methadone, it is an imperfect solution which can help addicts to manage their affliction and lead them into treatment but ultimately does not offer complete freedom from addiction in most cases.
For those wishing to taper off of opioid substitutes and switch to short acting opiates (SAOs) in preparation to take their recovery from opioids to a deeper level with substances like ibogaine, caution must be exercised. Here’s a helpful guide on doing so safely and effectively.
2) Ibogaine
If you’ve been following our blog, you already know about Ibogaine’s remarkable ability for treating withdrawal symptoms and substance cravings, as well as its ability to reset the brain to a pre-addicted state. If you haven’t, we’d recommend checking out this post on Ibogaine’s efficacy for treating opioid addiction. In addition to its treatment benefits, the substance induces an ego-free, reflective state that can also help addicts deal with past trauma and certain mental health issues.
Furthermore, Ibogaine is not habit forming and is unlikely to be abused. There is no evidence that it is physiologically or psychologically addictive. As one user described the experience: “I wouldn’t recommend it to somebody who is trying to have fun. If you want your body to explode into 1000 pieces and then rebuild itself, then yeah. But don’t expect it to be pleasant.” While there have been no systematic, controlled clinical trials in the US or Europe (mainly because the substance is classified as a Schedule I drug), there are thousands of testimonials from people who credit the substance with saving their lives and allowing for them to recover from addiction.
Ibogaine use is not without risk. It can exacerbate pre-existing cardiac conditions, and in abnormally large doses it may induce seizures. But even though it is often self-administered, or used in unsafe settings due to its murky legal status, it is still safer than methadone, causing 1 death in every 427 reported treatment episodes, compared to a 1:364 mortality rate for methadone. Click this link for more on the risks and safety precautions that are too often ignored by irresponsible treatment providers.
3) Ayahuasca
The psychedelic Ayahuasca contains the powerful substance dimethyltryptamine (more commonly known by the acronym DMT) which can induce strong physical and neurological reactions. A 2017 study by the Bay Area group Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) found that one-third of a group of 30 heroin addicts who were administered a single high dose of ayahuasca were still abstinent 3 months later. Another small-scale study in Canada had similar results, with 8 of the 13 addicts treated reporting a positive experience, and some entirely ceasing to abuse drugs. Testimonials like this one from a recovering addict in San Francisco tell us that ayahuasca can be a solution for some.
As with Ibogaine, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that ayahuasca can help to treat depression, trauma, and addiction, but the medical establishment has been slow to commit to researching their viability for treatment because of their status as drugs of abuse in many countries. In another similarity with Ibogaine, deaths in treatment have generally been the result of pre-existing heart conditions, and interactions with other substances already in the body.
It’s Time To Learn More!
Methadone has helped many people, but it is an extremely flawed solution to the problem of opioid addiction. Its risks, potential for abuse, and the dependence that it causes are all serious arguments against its use. And yet other possible solutions to the crisis caused by opioid addiction are left on the margins because of a paucity of research. Even the most skeptical doctors and researchers, like Dr. Benedikt Fischer of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, agreed when speaking to CBC News: ‘“There’s definitely not sufficient evidence to say they are viable treatment options,” he says of ibogaine and ayahuasca. But Fischer says the scant research that has been done encourages further study in a field he thinks could use alternative treatments.’
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