Captain.Heroin
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2008
- Messages
- 94,868
Drug Testing in the Suboxone based ORT Medical Field
See, this is a "degree" of drug testing that I wouldn't mind; only once at the beginning to ascertain they are actually coming down from opiates.
If the person is there to get pills to flip on the streets, or is just lying for Suboxone, they shouldn't get it. Buprenorphine is an opiate you can have a dependency on; if you don't start with harder opiates, you may not know how to "hold the leash" so to speak on Suboxone, and when abused, it will bite back.
This is personification of a drug, and I realize it's a bit of a stretch for some of you, literary wise. I don't often personify drugs (if I have quote me in this thread or PM me with a link! lol - I want a collection of all the good drug personifications I've thought up of) - but I thought it suited this example.
However, once someone has gotten clean from opiates/heroin (like I did), drug testing is 110% pointless. Checking to see if they relapse? Cutting people off from Suboxone when they relapse will only further enforce their heroin addiction. If you are a caring psychiatrist and just want to know how your patient is doing, if they're on the right road (so you can give them discrete, confidential counseling to help them out if you feel they need it - a lot of people have a "cry for help" of some sorts that no one "hears") that's one thing, but the vast majority of doctors are abusing drug tests with patients just to "keep them in line" or "make sure they're taking their meds" or "so they won't use other drugs" = all bullshit.
If you give the patients fair warning about the nature of buprenorphine you won't need to play once a week or once a month "parent" to your patients.
It's one thing if a patient asks to be drug tested, or agrees to it so that they may stay sober - this is also OK!
I just think the vast majority of us have a thing against drug testing - I personally am against it except for patients who request it or obviously benefit from it, when it comes to being prescribed medication.
When doctors say "we don't want you combining drugs that may be dangerous!" they really mean - "we don't trust you with your own life nor body" - and this is an incorrect message to send to patients. The correct message to send to your patients is that you DO trust them with their life and body, if they are in a relatively positive mental state, because you explain them the relative risks and side effects that may happen when combining drugs, instead of blowing it out of proportion for no reason other than to scare people into ignorance about their own bodies.
I can talk more about why I don't believe in drug testing later, feel free to ask me my opinions about it, but it is somewhat off-topic. I have people to reply to - I will get to you shortly!
See, this is a "degree" of drug testing that I wouldn't mind; only once at the beginning to ascertain they are actually coming down from opiates.
If the person is there to get pills to flip on the streets, or is just lying for Suboxone, they shouldn't get it. Buprenorphine is an opiate you can have a dependency on; if you don't start with harder opiates, you may not know how to "hold the leash" so to speak on Suboxone, and when abused, it will bite back.
This is personification of a drug, and I realize it's a bit of a stretch for some of you, literary wise. I don't often personify drugs (if I have quote me in this thread or PM me with a link! lol - I want a collection of all the good drug personifications I've thought up of) - but I thought it suited this example.
However, once someone has gotten clean from opiates/heroin (like I did), drug testing is 110% pointless. Checking to see if they relapse? Cutting people off from Suboxone when they relapse will only further enforce their heroin addiction. If you are a caring psychiatrist and just want to know how your patient is doing, if they're on the right road (so you can give them discrete, confidential counseling to help them out if you feel they need it - a lot of people have a "cry for help" of some sorts that no one "hears") that's one thing, but the vast majority of doctors are abusing drug tests with patients just to "keep them in line" or "make sure they're taking their meds" or "so they won't use other drugs" = all bullshit.
If you give the patients fair warning about the nature of buprenorphine you won't need to play once a week or once a month "parent" to your patients.
It's one thing if a patient asks to be drug tested, or agrees to it so that they may stay sober - this is also OK!
I just think the vast majority of us have a thing against drug testing - I personally am against it except for patients who request it or obviously benefit from it, when it comes to being prescribed medication.
When doctors say "we don't want you combining drugs that may be dangerous!" they really mean - "we don't trust you with your own life nor body" - and this is an incorrect message to send to patients. The correct message to send to your patients is that you DO trust them with their life and body, if they are in a relatively positive mental state, because you explain them the relative risks and side effects that may happen when combining drugs, instead of blowing it out of proportion for no reason other than to scare people into ignorance about their own bodies.
I can talk more about why I don't believe in drug testing later, feel free to ask me my opinions about it, but it is somewhat off-topic. I have people to reply to - I will get to you shortly!
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