Pubdate: Sat, 22 Dec 2007
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2007 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Note: Titled by Newshawk
Author: Joshua Bloomberg

LET'S GET REAL

Yes, addicts will be addicts. Yes, I've heard of adults huffing 
paint, shooting Viagra, smoking crumbs from the carpet and even, 
occasionally, of somebody abusing "bupe" - all in a desperate search 
for any kind of high to substitute for their elusive drug of choice. 
But let's get real: No hard-core (or any-core) addicts are seriously 
seeking Suboxone for steady consumption.

And The Sun fails to offer any convincing evidence of widespread 
abuse of the drug other than anecdotal comments from 
attention-seeking abusers and disgruntled doctors.

I might remind those doctors that addiction is cunning, baffling and 
demoralizing - that Suboxone does what it claims to do, nothing more. 
Sometimes nothing less than a spiritual awakening can restore an 
addict to sanity.

But more to the point, the only evidence The Sun cites of mortalities 
from such abuse is that buprenorphine is a supposed "factor in more 
than 100 deaths since 1996." But these deaths also involve 
"combination with other substances," which probably include toxic 
levels of alcohol, heroin or cocaine, with buprenorphine contributing 
little more than a blip on the toxicology report.

The Sun's series sensationalizes claims of abuse of a fairly benign 
drug that addicts on the street disregard as a serious high.

Joshua Bloomberg Baltimore
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom