#they were genuinely perfect and i won’t be able to replace them for the foreseeable future

[sharkcloset]

i splurged and bought myself some really good $300 noise cancelling headphones (for my horrible sound sensitivity while out in public) back when i was working full time and they died horribly recently(i think bc of the geomagnetic storm?? i was airborne when they died) and im in HELL while on the subway now that i can’t use them

[theconservativebrief]

Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution (or, at the very least, since the dawn of The Jetsons), Americans have been seized by the anxiety of being replaced by robots. In some service industries, these concerns have proven prophetic. But the technology is still far from perfect (see: the massive temper tantrums on social media over CVS’s automated self-checkout), and even though one report has predicted that robots could replace human workers by 2030, most people can rest assured that their jobs are safe for the time being. Most people, that is, but sex workers.

In Rolling Stone, writer Breena Kerr profiles Aura Dolls, a sex doll brothel in Toronto where clients can pay $120 an hour and an additional $90 per half-hour to do whatever they want to the six dolls on staff (provided they do not “make any extra holes” in them, though one wonders what would be the occasion for doing so). Brothel employees clean up the dolls between appointments to prepare them for the next customer.

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Aura Dolls is not the first sex doll brothel of its kind: There are similar establishments located in Barcelona, Moscow, and Turin, Italy. Such sex doll brothels have also been erroneously referred to as “sex robot brothels,” even though most do not possess such artificial intelligence.

Due to their high cost (a customizable Real Doll, for instance, starts at $5,999), sex dolls in general are still considered expensive novelty items. Legally speaking, they also exist in a somewhat gray area: Though they don’t technically violate most state prostitution laws, the moral opposition to sex work in the United States is so intense that it would inevitably serve as a barrier. Plans to open a brothel in Houston, for instance, were scrapped after the city council amended an existing ordinance to forbid business patrons from engaging in sexual congress with inanimate objects.

For these reasons, sex doll brothels are far from commonplace. Nonetheless, there’s been major outcry over the mere prospect of sex doll brothels, particularly in the legal sex industry in the United States. (Prostitution is illegal in the US except in a select number of counties in Nevada, where it is highly regulated.)

Allissa, a sex worker at the legal brothel Sheri’s Ranch in Nevada, is outraged that unlike legal brothels, which cannot openly advertise for fear of violating solicitation laws, sex doll brothels would ostensibly be able to openly advertise on billboards (as one recently did in Vancouver). She also believes they would pose a serious safety threat.

“If any guys start using these brothels, the dolls can’t consent and they have no limitations,” Allissa told Vox. “We’re very clear about what can happen and not happen during a party. And if sex dolls were to become popular, clients would think that [a lack of limitations] was normal.”

On the surface, this seems like an obvious concern: When presented with the choice between a flesh-and-blood woman who can consent to sex and a $6,000 hunk of silicone who can’t, logic would seemingly dictate that any man who opts for the latter is more likely to harbor some problematic views of women.

But this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. Sex doll brothels could potentially serve as a viable option for clients who may lack the social skills necessary to form meaningful relationships with humans. “Patrons [who] may have some sort of social anxiety or perhaps are disabled, who might not be comfortable with the social interactions of a human sex worker, would benefit greatly due to this service,” an Aura spokesperson said, adding that the brothel has received a number of inquiries from visually impaired people and the hard of hearing.

Sex dolls could also potentially serve as outlets for people with non-normative sexual preferences (think a taste for violent or nonconsensual sex) who don’t wish to harm a living person, or people in monogamous relationships who want to sexually experiment without actually committing infidelity. It would be unfair to characterize all of these people as misogynists eager to enact their twisted rape fantasies on unsuspecting hunks of plastic, just as it is unfair to characterize everyone who buys sex (an estimated 14 percent of American men) as brutal and exploitative.

“The dolls can’t consent and they have no limitations”

It’s safe to say that many sex workers’ primary objection to sex doll brothels isn’t moral or philosophical, but economic.

It is true that it costs less to masturbate into a rented hunk of silicone than it does to have sex with a legal prostitute. Allissa wouldn’t tell Vox how much she charged for a party, citing solicitation laws, but generally speaking, while sex workers’ rates vary widely according to many factors, a typical “Girlfriend Experience,” or more intimate sexual encounter, costs about $1,000 per hour at Sheri’s Ranch competitor the Moonlite BunnyRanch, and it’s not unheard of for an in-demand sex worker to charge far more than that.

That’s a far cry from the $120 an hour quoted by Aura Dolls, but brothels also tend to take a hefty commission from their workers (at Sheri’s Ranch, it’s 50 percent). They also aren’t responsible for the bulk of employee costs, which saves quite a bit of money on the management end: Allissa says she pays for room and board when she works at the ranch, as well as her own drinks, condoms, sex toys, and her hair and nails.

When you consider the level of cleanup involved in ensuring that sex dolls are up to hygiene standards for repeated use, it makes sense that the maintenance costs for a sex doll brothel would be fairly high.

“Due to the costs of hiring cleaning staff and employees to make sure the dolls are in tip-top condition every single use and making sure they are thoroughly cleaned along with the maintenance of the products and facility, [running a sex doll brothel] is not as cheap as one would imagine,” the Aura spokesperson said.

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Of course, sex workers provide a service that has far more value than any provided by sex dolls. In a world that encourages men to suppress and tamp down their emotions, it’s not uncommon for sex workers often act as impromptu therapists for their clients. “A lot of my job has to do with nonsexual intimacy. I’m creating a connection with them,” says Allissa. “They talk to me about their troubles … it’s a lot of genuine human connection. I do have clients who don’t have sex at all and they just want to cuddle and talk to me.”

A sex doll could not perform emotional labor on that level, or provide any of the other less tangible benefits of flesh-and-blood companionship — but at the same time, neither can your iPhone, or any of the other myriad technological advances that make our lives both infinitely easier and a lot lonelier.

It’s going to be a long time before sex doll brothels become mainstream, if they ever do. Still, as technology around AI improves and brands start developing sex dolls that are able to convincingly replicate human sexual response, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that sex dolls could one day join the ranks of vibrators and other sex toys, which now enjoy a certain mainstream respectability and are considered supplements of, rather than threats to, a healthy and safe sex life. Even Allissa says they could potentially be used as a training tool during parties, or a way to school male clients on how to give women pleasure.

Prostitution is called “the oldest profession” for good reason: There’s always been high demand for paid sex, and there likely always will be. But that doesn’t mean the industry is totally impervious to change. So far, we’ve seen strip clubs and porn movie theaters shut their doors due to the ubiquity of free internet porn. If sex dolls and robots ever become sophisticated enough to convincingly replicate IRL sex, who’s to say that a handful of brothels in rural Nevada won’t suffer the same fate?

Time and again, when confronted with the choice between convenience and affordability and the less tangible benefits of emotional intimacy, humans have opted for the former. There’s no reason to think that the sex industry will prove the exception to the rule.

Perhaps surprisingly, however, that’s not what Aura Dolls says. “We believe that there will always be a demand and market for human sex workers as it is considered one of the world’s oldest professions,” the spokesperson told Vox, perhaps unwittingly echoing other mega-corporations’ arguments in favor of automated workers. “We do not foresee it to be replaced anytime soon.”

Original Source -> Sex doll brothels are now a thing. What will happen to real-life sex workers?

via The Conservative Brief

[alyssamanson5]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

from http://www.spiritualriver.com/news/can-tamper-proof-opiate-pills-curb-addiction-epidemic/

[emlydunstan]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8241841 http://www.spiritualriver.com/news/can-tamper-proof-opiate-pills-curb-addiction-epidemic/

[pitz182]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

[bobbiejwray]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8241842 http://ift.tt/2z6wn9R

[alexdmorgan30]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8241841 http://ift.tt/2z6wn9R

[haileyjayden3]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

from http://www.spiritualriver.com/news/can-tamper-proof-opiate-pills-curb-addiction-epidemic/

[violetsgallant]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8241844 http://ift.tt/2z6wn9R

[roberrtnelson]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8241843 http://ift.tt/2z6wn9R

[jaylazoey]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8241844 http://www.spiritualriver.com/news/can-tamper-proof-opiate-pills-curb-addiction-epidemic/

[journalingthisjourney]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

[alyssamanson5]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

from http://www.spiritualriver.com/news/can-tamper-proof-opiate-pills-curb-addiction-epidemic/

[bobbiejwray]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8241842 http://ift.tt/2z6wn9R

[alyssamanson5]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

from http://www.spiritualriver.com/news/can-tamper-proof-opiate-pills-curb-addiction-epidemic/

[bobbiejwray]

Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic?

The opiate crisis has been quite devastating here in the United States. The response has been to try anything and everything to see if it will help struggling opiate addicts to find some kind of recovery.

Studies have been conducted and one of the original studies with Buprenorphine was done in another country. In that study, two groups of people were tested.

The first group was given Suboxone medication along with counseling and therapy. The second group was just given counseling and therapy.

I believe the results were roughly this: The MAT group that received real medication had roughly a 90 percent success rate in terms of remaining clean, while the control group receiving a placebo had roughly a ten percent success rate. So based on that study, it looked as if Suboxone and MAT was a smashing success when it came to treating opiate addiction.

But hold on. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables here. Keep in mind that the people in this study were genuinely trying to get clean and sober for their own self, and that they were all somewhat self motivated. Also, the results were measured in the relative short term, meaning that they were not looking at 18 months clean, they were rather looking at more like 90 days later. So the long term results would have been different to a degree, perhaps to a large degree.

What I observed in my own experience in working with opiate addicts is that there is a problem based on who is selected for the medication. In other words, the people who come into rehab and hear about MAT and decide that it sounds like a perfect solution for them–those people are setting themselves up for failure. In reality, they should be told that MAT is not ideal for their situation and that they should focus heavily on therapy, counseling, and social support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous instead.

Why?

Because if they are eager to use MAT as a solution then they have already corrupted their own recovery plan. They won’t do the work that is necessary to remain clean.

You see, when someone is adamant about using MAT it is because they believe that it is the answer to all of their problems. They believe that it will make it easier for them to remain clean, and therefore they won’t have to work as hard at NA meetings, at therapy, at counseling, and so on.

And everyone who is in the position of early recovery and hears this argument can easily refute it. They can say “no, that’s not me, I will go to meetings and I will go to therapy, I just need Suboxone to help take the cravings away, I promise I will still work hard on my recovery!”

But deep down they are lying to themselves. Deep down, their brain honestly believes that if they can just get a magic pill that removes their cravings and urges that they will have no problem in staying clean and sober. They are relatively smart, this person, and that is actually part of the problem. They are smart enough to get themselves into trouble, and they are too smart to dumb it down enough and just work the recovery programs, go to therapy, and so on.

In other words, just using Suboxone or any kind of MAT is not enough.

It is not enough, and we tell ourselves that we are going to push hard with meetings and counseling and therapy, but we are often just saying that because we so badly just want a magic pill that will make the cravings go away. And it just doesn’t work that way.

Another problem with MAT and buprenorphine is the fact that some of the pill supply can be tampered with and abused.

If there is a way to turn an MAT medication into a usable drug and get high with it, addicts will figure it out. And they have. If you have Subutex then you can certainly abuse it if you choose to.

So some companies are fighting back with new kinds of pills that resist tampering. This could be a huge step forward for MAT in general.

KSAT says that new pill coating technology means that “It’s going to be impossible for an abuser to draw that solution into a syringe and then inject it.” Meaning that the street value of those pills will plummet and addicts will actually take them for the purpose of recovery, rather than to manipulate the system and try to get high with it.

If MAT is going to work in the long run, however, people need to realize that the counseling and therapy portion of recovery is at least twice as important as the MAT part of recovery. Meaning that, with our current crop of MAT medications that exist today, there really is no such thing as a magic pill. Suboxone does not cure opiate addiction, not even close. If you work in a treatment center and you see a handful of opiate addicts that are prescribed Suboxone, you will eventually be shocked at the percentage of those addicts that you see coming back for more detoxification later on at some point. This is what shocked me so much while I was working in a detox center–the fact that MAT does not work at all if you are not doing the therapy and the counseling and the NA meetings along with it.

Maybe some day science and technology will invent a more powerful form of MAT that really does work like the magic pill that everyone wants for it to be. But for now, it is important to realize that recovery cannot be successful based on MAT alone. It takes more than that. It takes a person who has surrendered completely to a new solution, someone who fully accepts that they need to focus their entire life on addiction recovery and nothing else for the foreseeable future. Anything less than this level of dedication always results in relapse, regardless of any MAT that may be involved.

So it is important to realize if you are seeking recovery yourself that MAT is not a magic bullet. Sure, it might help you. And it may be helpful to other people. But it is not going to be helpful to someone who is looking for a shortcut in recovery, who just wants the cravings to magically go away so that they can get back to their life. That is not how it works. Instead, you must be prepared to replace your entire life with recovery and things like meetings, therapy, and IOP so that the MAT has a chance to help you on your journey. Without that total and complete level of dedication you are not going to be able to remain clean and sober, period. Start with a foundation in therapy, counseling, and treatment, and then perhaps adding in MAT may give you a slight edge in your recovery journey. That is the right context to see MAT in.

The post Can Tamper Proof Opiate Pills Curb the Addiction Epidemic? appeared first on Spiritual River Addiction Help.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8241842 http://ift.tt/2z6wn9R