Comment by marincounty | Hacker News Reader

Comment by marincounty | Hacker News Reader

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The government should set up free bupenorpine centers. This generic drug should be made easily available to addicts. I am so tired of hearing about heroin death stories. We can debate what's the best treatment, or why people do drugs. The government should pay doctors to administer this drug to addicts. A years supply? If it's lost, or stolen they will be forced to go to treatment centers? Oh, yea--one more time; the drug should be offered free of charge, and addicts shouldn't have to jump through hoops in order to get it. You can get the dose down to 1-2 mg/day without feeling much discomfort. (Right now the government makes doctors take a class in order to prescribe it. Doctor's can only gave 100 patients. Most Doctors--will drag the patient in for office visits--why? For money of course? Plus, they are ticked off they needed to take that reduculios class on this drug.(I can't imagine, even the D- graduate, having a hard time grasping the mechanism, and dosage of this drug? It's just not a complicated drug? Especially in small dosages?

Sorry, about the rant; just tired if hearing about deaths from heroin! Especially, when I know their are addicts that want help.

My government has. It's why I'm clean, have been for 3 years after 6 years of heroin addiction. I agree, and I can't believe the costs involved in bupe treatment in the U.S.

I agree completely that there should be free and easily accessible addiction treatment centers available to those who need it.

I just don't think buprenorphine is the solution.

It's easily abusable and worth relatively a lot on the black market.

You run into the same problem you did with methadone: you're on an opioid that has a 16-27 day half-life. You will be withdrawing heavily for much longer than you would if you cold turkeyed a street opioid.

You're replacing one opioid with another, one addiction with another. This is 100% anecdotal, but I only know people who have had months and years of abject misery trying to come off of buprenorphine.

For hardcore opioid addiction, it might make sense. But there are options like the Naltrexone injection that doesn't involve replacement therapy.

Naltrexone implants are worse than bupe. Sure, you can't use, but your addiction is still there. None of the current solutions are perfect, but the implants are by far one of the worst in my opinion. Bupe worked extremely well for me, it allowed me to stop using heroin and get my professional life back in order, without the spectre of where my next fix (and the $300 for it) was coming from. Tapering bupe was easy for me, and jumping off at 0.4mg was easy enough that I merely took two weeks off work.

Pretty sure the economics work out in societys favor when it comes to H maintenance and those safe injection places, too.

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