It's the same thing with almost all new(er) drugs. The doctors believe the b.s fed to them by the pharmaceutical reps about how this new drug they have is better than the other alternatives, has a lower potential for abuse, and is easy to get off of. It's been happening forever (heroin marketed as a safer alternative to morphine, oxymorphone marketed as having lower abuse potential than morphine, OxyContin marketed as better alternative to taking other pain meds several times a day, etc) and it takes years of patients suffering for it to change.
Suboxone seems to be one of the drugs with the most misinformation out there on it, and one that doctors actually know very little about. From the lie about the naloxone in Suboxone preventing people from IVing it making it safer than Subutex, to the stupidly high dosages being prescribed, to the little knowledge doctors have on tapering plans, there's a lot that Doctors need to learn.
Part of the problem is that many of us have been the guinea pigs since Suboxone has only been widely prescribed since 2006, although it was approved 4 years before that, but doctors could only prescribe it to 10 patients back then. Since the patients providing the feedback are addicts, the doctors may not take this feedback seriously, so therefore rely on studies and information provided by Reckitt Benckiser which is going to be biased to make the drug appear to work how they want it to work.
That's why there are so many of us on Bluelight and other forums that discuss this medication and how to use it. This is the 14th version of the suboxone megathread since mid-2007, and there have been plenty of other threads and discussions on this drug outside of the megathreads. Just to be clear I'm not saying that suboxone isn't a safer drug for opiate maintenance or detox, or that it is always hard to get off. It is how it's prescribed that makes it worse than it should be, and with proper prescribing and tapering it is a lot better.
