Expert: Beverley Glazer - 5/30/2009

Question
My 20 year old son has been taking 24 mg of suboxone for 5 months.  He was into oxycotone for about a year recreationally and then to the point that he flunked out of college, stole, lied, etc.  He is doing really well now. Now, he wants to get off and live his life drug free. He is working full time, going to college and it is because of his choice-not the drug.  He wants to ween in stages. He is now at 20 mg a day for the last week--how many weeks should he make this process?

Answer
Hi Carrie,

Your son is to be congratulated for turning his life around and of course he'd like to be completely drug free, but he must understand that 5 months is not a very long time.

It is my opinion that he stays on Suboxone for at least a year. This will give him the time to become accustom to his addiction free life.

Then he should be weened off the medication by a medical professional. During this process he should see an addiction counselor for relapse prevention techniques or go to NA meetings, get a sponsor and follow the 12-Steps.
This is what they are:
http://www.untwist-your-thinking/12-step-program-of-aa.html

The reason for this is that he needs additional support. He'll be more stressed once the Suboxone is out of his system and he can easily revert or transfer his addiction.

I'm sure he won't be pleased with my advice, but right now, he's doing nicely, so why make changes? And if he insists on weening off the medication he should consult a medical doctor.

Hope this information is helpful,

Thank you for contacting all experts,

All the best of luck,

Beverley Glazer MA,ICADC
http://www.untwist-your-thinking.com