virisitian: where are you located?? I know (or at least this is what my bupe doc told me) that subutex is RARELY prescribed in the US.....usually its suboxone.....
Look, here's my opinion: if you REALLY and TRULY believe that you will NOT be able to keep your hands off of opiates if you were to quit cold turkey, and you are REALLY and TRULY sick of doing them, then I think a bupe program could prove to be beneficial, as far as keeping away cravings...
I mean I wasn't drinking poppy seed tea, I was injecting heroin.....BUT, in the weeks prior to starting bupe, I had been tapering my dope usage down to almost nothing, so I conceivably could have quit cold turkey, actually, I know I could have, but guess what???? I KNOW for a FACT that at this very moment, if I was not on bupe, I would probably be out hustling to make $$ to get high, or high already, or god knows what else (jail, dead, etc...) so for me, bupe, and it's "keep my mind off of heroin" properties are a Godsend.......
so ya see what I mean?? There's no reason why bupe wouldn't be a step in the right direction, if you feel that you just couldn't stop and stay away from getting high on your own.....granted, you probably won't need as much as I'm on (24mg/day), but I say there no harm in giving it a whirl, ya know??