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Medication Treatment: Buprenorphine

What is buprenorphine (Brand names: Suboxone, Subutex)?

Buprenorphine is a type of opioid that acts as a partial agonist in the brain.
Buprenorphine activates the opioid receptor in the brain just enough to stop a person from going into withdrawal and experiencing strong cravings to use opioids.
Because buprenorphine only partially switches on the opioid receptor, it does not activate the rewarding/highly pleasurable sensations like other opioids such as heroin do.
Buprenorphine strongly attaches to the brain’s opioid receptors, which also means that it can block the effects of other opioids such as heroin if a person uses heroin while taking buprenorphine.

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