Web Survey Indicates Sixty-Six Percent of Respondents Using Suboxone for Treatment of Opiate Dependency Became Hooked

Beverly Hills, Calif. (May 31, 2007) – The Waismann Method today announced findings from an online survey of Suboxone users, indicating that 66 percent of individuals currently taking Suboxone, also known as Subutex or Buprenorphine, believe they cannot stop taking the drug without assistance, indicating a physical dependency. Suboxone is often prescribed to treat dependency to opiates including Oxycontin, Vicodin, Lortab or Fentanyl. Because Suboxone is 50 percent opiate in composition, it helps alleviate painful withdrawal symptoms caused by the original opiate, but still remains a replacement therapy that replaces one opiate-based drug with another, according to Clare Waismann, addiction specialist for the Waismann Method.

“Patients are under the misconception that because this drug is prescribed by their doctors that it is a cure for their physical dependency to opiates,” said Waismann. “Doctors need to be honest with their patients, letting them know that Suboxone will not eliminate their dependency to opiates and actually can be habit forming. In addition, regulation of drug marketing needs to be tougher, so that people know exactly what to expect.”

Other key findings in the survey include:

• Forty-seven percent of respondents said they weren’t told by their doctors that they could develop a physical dependency to Suboxone.
• Fifty percent of respondents were told by their doctors that Suboxone is a cure for opiate dependency.
• Forty-nine percent said they have tried without success to stop taking Suboxone.
• Thirty-seven percent reported being addicted to Oxycontin whey they were prescribed Suboxone.

“We are treating alarming numbers of people suffering dependencies to Suboxone, who assumed they were treating one dependency and ended up developing a new one,” said Waismann. “Rather than write prescriptions, the addiction community should direct their efforts towards helping patients understand that relapse is not part of recovery. In addition, the antiquated notion that addiction is an incurable disease and belief that “once an addict, always an addict, needs to be dispelled. Patients are tired of being hostage of a belief that they must be eternally dependent on treatments and maintenance drugs. We must stop applying judgment, and start offering an effective solution that will keep them from returning to the treatment centers time after time.”

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