> Suboxone is a compound of two drugs that decreases one’s cravings for opioids while blocking their effects. It is safer and less cumbersome than methadone, which requires daily or weekly visits to a clinic, and more effective than any abstinence-based treatment, which requires people to withstand cravings and suppress physical discomfort.
This highlights one of the issues I have with articles like this about Ozempic at this current moment - this glosses over something major with these two particular drugs. With methadone, yes, it will keep you off of heroin, but you'll also likely never, ever get off of methadone because the withdrawal is 1) just as horrible and severe as heroin and 2) can last months. To the point where you'd almost be better off just kicking the heroin the "old fashioned" way. suboxone is similar - the drug isn't without side effects either. Of course, that isn't to say these things aren't useful - to have a methadone/suboxone dependency is way preferable to heroin addiction.
My only real point is that we should wait to see what long term side effects these drugs have before calling them miracles and glossing over their down sides, because I think the end effect of that is counterproductive to medicine. I'm always immediately skeptical as to what drugs pharmaceutical companies are pushing out, due to the history I've witnessed so far in my lifetime.
That all said Ozempic probably would've saved a relative of mine's life. In the end, they'd likely not care about the side effects all that much.
This highlights one of the issues I have with articles like this about Ozempic at this current moment - this glosses over something major with these two particular drugs. With methadone, yes, it will keep you off of heroin, but you'll also likely never, ever get off of methadone because the withdrawal is 1) just as horrible and severe as heroin and 2) can last months. To the point where you'd almost be better off just kicking the heroin the "old fashioned" way. suboxone is similar - the drug isn't without side effects either. Of course, that isn't to say these things aren't useful - to have a methadone/suboxone dependency is way preferable to heroin addiction.
My only real point is that we should wait to see what long term side effects these drugs have before calling them miracles and glossing over their down sides, because I think the end effect of that is counterproductive to medicine. I'm always immediately skeptical as to what drugs pharmaceutical companies are pushing out, due to the history I've witnessed so far in my lifetime.
That all said Ozempic probably would've saved a relative of mine's life. In the end, they'd likely not care about the side effects all that much.