Suboxone is an oral medication. It comes in three forms designed to be easy to take:

The sublingual tablets and film strips are placed underneath your tongue and the buccal film strips are placed between your gums and teeth. All three forms of the medication dissolve quickly in your mouth. The film strips are similar to Listerine breath mint strips. Suboxone contains a combination of both buprenorphine and naloxone. It is available in four strengths:

The goal of any effective medication-assisted treatment program is to slowly taper your dose over time. Your starting dose depends on the severity of your opioid dependence when you first arrive at treatment. Then your dose decreases throughout your program until you’re eventually separated from all medications.

When taken as prescribed by a physician, the effects of Suboxone are helpful during early recovery. The blend of buprenorphine and naloxone provides numerous unique benefits to individuals trying to come off of opiates.

The benefits of Suboxone do come with some mild to serious side effects. Not everyone experiences adverse reactions to the medication. The lists below contain some of the most common side effects of Suboxone.

How effective is Suboxone when it’s used to treat opioid dependence? Extensive research and studies have shown many benefits of medication-assisted treatment using the drug. It reduces opioid use as well as opioid use disorder-related symptoms. It also lowers the chance of contracting an infectious disease and the criminal behavior that comes with drug use.

Like most medications, Suboxone does not come without some risks. It still causes some effects that are similar to other opiates. Low to moderate doses do cause mild euphoria and some respiratory depression. Effects of Suboxone are far weaker than the effects caused by opiates like prescription painkillers or heroin.

Mixing Suboxone with other drugs such as benzodiazepines or alcohol poses a significant risk. Possible side effects of mixing the medication with depressant drugs include respiratory distress, coma, and even death.

The naloxone in the medication limits the possibility of a true opiate-like high when taking it. It also aims to keep people from developing a Suboxone addiction. Limiting the ability to get high or become addicted doesn’t keep users from developing a tolerance, though. People using Suboxone develop a physical and psychological dependence on the medication over time.

Despite its use as a treatment for opioid dependence, Suboxone is still an opioid medication. This means it comes with risks similar to other opioids, including dependence and abuse. Abusing Suboxone can lead to behaviors similar to those you initially sought treatment for, including cravings for drugs and seeking out other substances.

Suboxone is one of the most common medications used in medication-assisted treatment today. There are also a few alternatives to Suboxone available. The three main types of medications used to treat opioid dependence include methadone, buprenorphine, and naloxone. The main opioid dependence medications include some combination of these active ingredients.

Suboxone isn’t the only kind of medication used to treat opiate addiction. The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Suboxone for opiate treatment in 2002. Methadone is another opiate treatment medication that’s been in use for decades, long before Suboxone was introduced.

Similar to Suboxone, clinicians use methadone to reduce opioid cravings and help people during early recovery. However, there is a major difference between Suboxone and methadone. The buprenorphine used in Suboxone is a partial opioid agonist while methadone is a long-lasting, full opioid agonist.

There is a huge difference in the strength of the two medications. Partial opioid agonists do not produce the same effects as full opioid agonists do. Buprenorphine, the active ingredient in Suboxone, is only a partial opioid agonist. Methadone, on the other hand, is a full opioid agonist. It’s a much stronger medication than Suboxone and has a far greater potential for abuse.

Suboxone is also unique because it aims to limit the strength of its opioid effects. Methadone, on the other hand, is made from opioid. Suboxone’s combination of both buprenorphine and naloxone reduces the opioid-like effects. Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist and naloxone is an opioid antagonist. The antagonist properties of naloxone weaken the opioid-like effects of buprenorphine. This function makes Suboxone slightly less habit-forming than methadone.

Because of the high risk of abuse, methadone is only available under the supervision of a physician through certified opioid treatment programs. Suboxone, on the other hand, is available at a variety of facilities and also as a take-home prescription. The medication’s widespread availability makes treatment accessible to more people.

Research shows that medication-assisted treatment using Suboxone is effective for reducing opioid dependence. The use of the medication also increases the likelihood that a patient remains in treatment instead of leaving early. Thankfully, its efficacy increases the longer a person stays in their treatment program.

At the same time, despite making the detox and early recovery period more manageable, Suboxone is not a cure for opiate addiction. It doesn’t address the underlying causes of substance use disorder. Instead, it provides enough relief to allow people the ability to focus their energy on treatment rather than only on staying clean.