What is Suboxone and how does it work? Discover the truth behind the myths surrounding the use of Suboxone to treat opioid addiction.

Understanding Suboxone and Its Role in Opioid Addiction Treatment

Suboxone, a combination medication containing buprenorphine and naloxone, is one of the primary medications used to treat opioid addiction. This type of treatment, known as Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD), has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of fatal overdoses by approximately 50%. It also lowers the risk of nonfatal overdoses, which can be both traumatic and medically dangerous.

Suboxone works by tightly binding to the same receptors in the brain as other opioids, such as heroin, morphine, and oxycodone. By doing so, it blunts the intoxication from these other drugs, prevents cravings, and allows many people to transition from a life of addiction to a life of normalcy and safety.

Myth #1: You Aren’t Really in Recovery if You’re on Suboxone

Reality: While the definition of “recovery” may vary, the traditional abstinence-based models that have dominated addiction care are giving way to more modern conceptions that encompass the use of medications like Suboxone. Addiction is increasingly viewed as a medical condition, and Suboxone is seen as a medication for a chronic condition, similar to how a person with type 1 diabetes needs to take insulin. Claiming that you aren’t really in recovery if you’re on Suboxone is stigmatizing and not in line with the medical reality of effective addiction treatment.

Myth #2: People Frequently Misuse Suboxone

Reality: Suboxone, like any opioid and many other medications, can be misused. However, because it is only a “partial” agonist of the main opioid receptor (the “mu” receptor), it causes much less euphoria than other opioids like heroin and oxycodone. In many cases, people may use Suboxone (or “misuse” it, if that is defined as using it illegally) to help themselves manage withdrawal or even get off heroin or fentanyl. If Suboxone were more widely available to those who need it, they wouldn’t have to resort to self-treatment, which we should avoid blaming as the “victims” here.

Myth #3: It’s as Easy to Overdose on Suboxone as It Is to Overdose with Other Opioids

Reality: It is extremely difficult to overdose on Suboxone alone. Suboxone has a much lower risk of overdose compared to other opioids because it is only a partial opioid receptor agonist, which means there is a limit to how much the opioid receptors can be activated by Suboxone. When people do overdose on Suboxone, it is almost always because they are mixing it with sedatives such as benzodiazepines, which also slow breathing.

Myth #4: Suboxone Isn’t Treatment for Addiction if You Aren’t Getting Therapy Along with It

Reality: Ideally, addiction treatment should include MOUD as well as therapy, recovery coaching, support groups, housing assistance, and employment support. However, that doesn’t mean that one component, in the absence of all the others, doesn’t constitute valid treatment for addiction. Currently, only about 10-20% of people with opioid use disorder are receiving adequate treatment due to flaws in the healthcare system and shortages of qualified providers. While combination treatment is the goal, it is unrealistic to expect everyone with an addiction to receive all the necessary components, especially when many lack access to regular healthcare and health insurance. Treatment with Suboxone alone, without therapy, has been proven to be effective, and it can be even more effective when combined with other forms of support.

Addressing the Myths and Increasing Access to Suboxone

The persistence of these myths about Suboxone adds further barriers to treatment for people suffering from opioid addiction. As addiction is increasingly viewed as a medical condition, the use of Suboxone and other MOUD should be seen as a legitimate and effective approach to managing this chronic disease. Efforts to increase the availability of Suboxone prescribers, reduce stigma, and educate the public and healthcare providers are crucial in addressing the ongoing opioid crisis and saving lives.

The Importance of Evidence-Based Addiction Treatment

The myths surrounding Suboxone highlight the need for a greater emphasis on evidence-based addiction treatment. As the medical and scientific communities have come to understand addiction as a chronic, relapsing condition, the use of MOUD like Suboxone has become a critical component of effective treatment. By addressing these myths and increasing access to Suboxone, we can help more people with opioid use disorder transition to a life of recovery and safety.

5 myths about using Suboxone to treat opiate addiction

What is Suboxone and how does it work?

Suboxone, a combination medication containing buprenorphine and naloxone, is one of the main medications used to treat opioid addiction. Using ‘medications for opioid use disorder’ is known as MOUD. Use of MOUD has been shown to lower the risk of fatal overdoses by approximately 50%. It also reduces the risk of nonfatal overdoses which are traumatic and medically dangerous.

Suboxone works by tightly binding to the same receptors in the brain as other opiates, such as heroin, morphine, and oxycodone. By doing so, it blunts intoxication with these other drugs, it prevents cravings, and it allows many people to transition back from a life of addiction to a life of normalcy and safety.

A key goal of many advocates is to make access to Suboxone much more widely available, so that people who are addicted to opiates can readily access it. Good places to start are in the emergency department and in the primary care doctor’s office. More doctors need to become “waivered” to prescribe this medication, which requires some training and a special license.

The vast majority of physicians, addiction experts, and advocates agree: Suboxone saves lives. The U.S. Government has recently been lightening up on the requirements needed for doctors and nurses to “get waivered” in an urgent attempt to increase the availability of Suboxone prescribers, as the number of opioid deaths keeps rising.

Common myths about using Suboxone to treat addiction

Unfortunately, within the addiction community and among the public at large, certain myths about Suboxone persist, and these myths add a further barrier to treatment for people suffering from opiate addiction.

Myth #1: You aren’t really in recovery if you’re on Suboxone.

Reality: While it depends on how you define “recovery,” the circa 1930’s era AA-influenced abstinence-based models that have dominated the past century of addiction care are generally giving way to more modern conceptions of recovery that encompass the use of medications such as Suboxone that  help regulate your brain chemistry. As addiction is increasingly viewed as a medical condition. Suboxone is viewed as a medication for a chronic condition, similar to a person with type 1 diabetes needing to take insulin. To say that you aren’t really in recovery if you are on Suboxone is stigmatizing to people who take Suboxone, and it’s not the medical reality of effective addiction treatment.

Myth #2: People frequently misuse Suboxone.

Reality: Suboxone, like any opiate, and many other medications, can be misused. However, because it is only a “partial” agonist of the main opiate receptor (the “mu” receptor), it causes  much less euphoria than the other opiates such as heroin and oxycodone. In many cases, people may use Suboxone (or “misuse” it, if that is defined as using it illegally) to help themselves manage their withdrawal, or even to get themselves off heroin or fentanyl. If Suboxone were more available to those who need it, they wouldn’t have to self-treat. We are, in effect, blaming the victims here.

Myth #3: It’s as easy to overdose on Suboxone as it is to overdose with other opiates.

Reality: It is extremely difficult to overdose on Suboxone alone. It is much more difficult to overdose on Suboxone compared to other opiates, because Suboxone is only a partial opiate receptor agonist, so there is a built-in “ceiling” effect. This means there is a limit to how much the opioid receptors can be activated by Suboxone, so there isn’t as great a risk of slowed breathing compared with potent opiates such as heroin, oxycodone, or morphine. When people do overdose on Suboxone, it is almost always because they are mixing it with sedatives such as benzodiazepines, medicines that also slow breathing.

Myth #4: Suboxone isn’t treatment for addiction if you aren’t getting therapy along with it.

Reality: Ideally, addiction treatment should include MOUD as well as therapy, recovery coaching, support groups, housing assistance, and employment support. But that doesn’t mean that one component, in the absence of all of the others, doesn’t constitute valid treatment for addiction. Currently, about 10-20% of people with opioid use disorder are getting anything that qualifies as adequate treatment for their disease, due to flaws in our healthcare system and shortages in qualified providers. So, while combination treatment is an admirable goal, it is unrealistic to expect that everyone with an addiction will receive all the aspects of treatment that they need, especially if you add in that many people who suffer from addiction often also lack access to regular healthcare and  health insurance. Further, treatment with Suboxone alone, without therapy, has been proven to be effective. But it can be even more effective if combined with additional supports, such as therapy, recovery coaching, etc.

Myth #5: Suboxone should only be taken for a short period of time.

Reality: Expert practitioners have different theories on how long Suboxone treatment should last for, but there is no evidence to support the claim that Suboxone should be taken for a short period of time as opposed to being maintained on it for the long term, just as a person would manage their diabetes with insulin for the long term. Ultimately, this comes down to patient preference.

One of the main obstacles to getting lifesaving treatment for addiction is the stigma people face. Fortunately, our society’s perception is slowly starting to transform away from an outdated view of addiction as a moral failing, toward a more realistic, humane view of addiction as a complex disease that needs to be addressed with compassion, as well as modern medical care. Eliminating myths and misinformation about addiction, and supplanting them with up-to-date, evidence-based treatments, is a critical step in the evolution and improvement of addiction treatment.

Suboxone Uses, Addiction Potential & Treatment Costs

What is Suboxone?

Suboxone is an opioid prescription drug used to treat opioid dependence. It can be used as an induction agent to stabilize someone in withdrawal during the medical detoxification process as well as for maintenance treatment to promote recovery from opioid use disorder. It consists of a combination of two drugs: buprenorphine (a partial opioid agonist) and naloxone (an opioid antagonist) and is administered as a dissolvable film placed either under the tongue or in the cheek. ¹ The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a generic buprenorphine and naloxone sublingual (applied under the tongue) in 2018.²

How Does Suboxone Work?

Buprenorphine is what’s known as a partial opioid agonist—an opioid medication that produces relatively weak opioid effects. This means that buprenorphine reduces withdrawal symptoms and cravings without producing the full effect of other opioids (such as heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, etc.), which can make it easier for you to stop using your opioid drug of choice.¹

With high binding affinity, it may also block other opioids from binding to and activating your opioid receptors, which can deter misuse of other opioids.^1,3

 As a partial agonist, buprenorphine also has an upper limit to its opioid effects, even with escalating doses. The risk of misuse and overdose is lower than with other opioids because there is a limit as to how much your opioid receptors can be activated. This helps reduce the potential for respiratory depression (dangerously slowed breathing), which is a risk and symptom of opioid overdose.^1,3

Naloxone is an opioid receptor antagonist medication that is combined with buprenorphine in Suboxone and similar generic combination formulations. Though naloxone is used on its own to reverse the deadly effects of opioid overdose, it is instead included in this combo to help discourage intentional misuse of buprenorphine, should it be dissolved and injected or inhaled nasally—doing so would result in the rapid onset of withdrawal in opioid dependent individuals.^1,3,4

While it is an effective medication for opioid addiction, Suboxone is often utilized as part of a comprehensive treatment approach that incorporates not only medications, but behavioral interventions, mutual-help groups and, when needed, treatment for any co-occurring mental health conditions (like depression or anxiety).

What Does Suboxone Look Like?

What is Suboxone Used For?

Suboxone is used to treat opioid use disorder, which is the clinical diagnosis for opioid addiction. Medications are increasingly becoming the standard of care for managing OUD. If you enter rehab for opioid addiction, you may receive medications for addiction treatment as an integral part of your program strategy. Medications like Suboxone for addiction treatment are one part of the treatment plan, which also incorporates counseling and behavioral therapy for substance use disorders.

Suboxone can be safe when used as prescribed for treating OUD. Recently, Suboxone revised some of the information contained in the dosage and administration section of the pharmaceutical packaging information, including the addition of the recommendation that healthcare providers also prescribe naloxone due to the potential of individuals with opioid use disorder to relapse, which puts them at risk for opioid overdose.⁵ Additionally, for individuals dependent on short-acting opioids, the recommended dose was cut in half to no more than 8 mg/2 mg of Suboxone on day 1 of acute opioid withdrawal. ⁵

When used as directed, it has a low potential for overdose due to its ceiling of opioid effects discussed earlier.⁶ Misuse of Suboxone—such as injecting it, taking it in higher amounts than prescribed, using it while also drinking alcohol or taking sedatives, or taking it too soon after using other opioids—can place you at higher risk of experiencing adverse effects.¹

Taking Suboxone too soon after using other opioids can elicit uncomfortable opioid withdrawal symptoms like sweating, shaking, digestive upset, and anxiety. Other potential—yet usually rare—side effects can occur, such as overdose and respiratory depression, which may be more likely with misuse.⁷

Suboxone History and Statistics

Buprenorphine was first developed in the 1970s as a safer alternative to some other opioid pain medications. It was approved for use as a painkiller in 1985 when it was listed as a Schedule V substance, which are substances that have an accepted use and a lower potential for misuse than those in Schedules I-IV. Clinicians recognized that buprenorphine could also be a safe and potentially more accessible alternative to methadone, which was the primary medication used to treat opioid addiction.^4,7,8 Pharmaceutical research eventually prompted the decision to combine naloxone with buprenorphine, in an attempt to further reduce the risk of misuse of buprenorphine. Suboxone received FDA approval to treat opioid addiction in October 2002.^8,9

Benefits of Suboxone Use in Medications for Addiction Treatment

Buprenorphine is among the list of essential medicines maintained by the World Health Organization, and is an indispensable tool for helping people with opioid use disorder to ease moderate to severe opioid withdrawal and cravings.⁸ Some additional benefits of using Suboxone in addiction treatment include:^9,11

• Increased overdose safety.
• Decreased risk of misuse.
• Long-acting effects may allow for alternate-day dosing.

Potential Side Effects of Suboxone Use

As with any medication, Suboxone is associated with certain side effects, even when taken as prescribed. Death from respiratory depression is rare with Suboxone but may be more likely when people use Suboxone in conjunction with other substances that slow breathing, such as benzodiazepines, sedatives, tranquilizers, or alcohol.^1,3,9,12

Relatively common Suboxone side effects include:¹ 

• Headache.
• Insomnia.
• Sweating.
• Swelling in arms and legs.
• Nausea.
• Vomiting.
• Constipation.
• Mouth or tongue numbness, burning, and redness if you use the orally dissolvable film.

Less common but more severe side effects can include:¹

• Low blood pressure when you stand up.
• Impaired liver function.
• Adrenal changes.
• Sleep-related breathing issues.
• Allergic reactions (if you are allergic to any of the ingredients).

Is Suboxone Addictive?

Suboxone can result in physical dependence with long-term use due to the inclusion of buprenorphine, which is an opioid.¹³ However, dependence is not the same as addiction—though to develop it even with prescription use means that you could experience withdrawal symptoms if you abruptly stop using it.

You should not stop using Suboxone unless directed to do so by your doctor. Your Suboxone use will be carefully monitored by healthcare providers throughout the course of treatment. Under the guidance of your physician, you will taper off Suboxone, which means gradually reducing your dose, when the time is right for you.^1,13

As with any opioid, the buprenorphine component of Suboxone does confer an innate misuse liability. However, as a partial opioid agonist, it is incapable of eliciting the more profoundly euphoric effects of other, more commonly abused opioid drugs, such as heroin and oxycodone. ¹ Naloxone is specifically included in the combination formulation to additionally limit misuse potential, as attempts at achieving a euphoric high via certain unintended routes of use may instead result in opioid receptor blockade and precipitated withdrawal.⁴

It is also important to be aware that Suboxone use for treating opioid use disorder is not merely substituting one addiction for another. Instead, Suboxone helps people control their previously compulsive and harmful opioid use, allowing them to resume a normal, more healthy life.¹³

Does Insurance Cover the Cost of Suboxone?

Suboxone is typically covered by health insurance, but the extent of coverage can vary depending on your specific health insurance plan, behavioral health benefits, treatment provider, and more. According to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, most health care plans are required to apply the same rules to treatment of substance use and mental health disorders as they do to medical/physical health problems. ⁴ However, it is advisable to verify your specific coverage with your insurance carrier. You can verify your insurance benefits and find out whether your rehabilitation may be fully or partially covered with our form below.

Can Suboxone Be Prescribed Online?

Many rural communities throughout the United States lack adequate access to substance use treatment and medications for addiction treatment, including those for opioid use disorder. Under the Ryan Haight Act of 2008, controlled substances can be prescribed by way of the internet.¹⁴ Under this act, the prescribing healthcare provider must have seen the patient for at least one in-person medical evaluation.¹⁴

The SUPPORT Act of 2018, however, requires the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to create a regulatory pathway for individuals to receive buprenorphine prescriptions via telemedicine, where the provider meets with the patient for a video or telephone consultation, but the DEA has yet to do this. Consequently, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, regulators waived the in-person restriction of the Ryan Haight Act to expand access to those in need of opioid use disorder treatment.^14,15 Thus, federal regulatory changes set during the COVID-19 pandemic, may allow some addiction treatment providers, who use telemedicine, to prescribe buprenorphine to their patients without an initial in-person evaluation.¹⁶

Can I Get Same-Day Suboxone Treatment?

Same-day admission into a detox program may be beneficial if you or a loved one are experiencing or at risk of experiencing opioid withdrawal symptoms.

Call American Addiction Centers

In many cases, the right time to begin detox may be right now. But care must be taken. Abruptly quitting some types of drugs or alcohol can be uncomfortable and, at times, result in a dangerous withdrawal syndrome. At American Addiction Centers, you may be able to enter a program immediately in order to medically detox and then move on to treatment that can get you on the road to long-term recovery. If you’re struggling with a substance use disorder or an alcohol use disorder, please connect with one of our admissions navigators at You can also fill in our insurance verification form below in order to see if treatment may be covered by your insurance provider.

FAQs About Suboxone

About The Contributor

Stacy Mosel, L.M.S.W.

Author, American Addiction Centers

Stacy Mosel, L.M.S.W., is a substance abuse specialist, psychotherapist, and licensed social worker.

Read Our Editorial Policy

opioid

Last Updated on Apr 13, 2023

Tablets Subutex – Is it a drug or not, how does it affect the body?

Contents:

Buprenorphine (brand name Subutex), is a powerful pain reliever and belongs to semi-synthetic apioids. This drug is not officially recognized as a drug and, due to its abilities, belongs to drugs with a psychotropic effect on the human body. In European countries, this drug was replaced in the form of Suboxone, and before that, Subutex was replaced by Methadone. Despite the abundance of names, this drug is potent and has narcotic properties. It is used in substitution therapy for drug addiction.

What is the purpose of using Buprenorphine (Subutex)

This drug has found its wide application in substitution therapy for narcotic drugs, as well as in pain relief and pain relief. In terms of its qualities, it is many times stronger than the narcotic drug Morphine. The reason for the creation of this psychotropic drug was the belief that drug addiction could not be defeated and cured. Therefore, it was decided to create a remedy that will replace drugs and bring the least harm to the health of a person dependent on them.

Effects on the human body

Experts believe that tablets of the psychotropic drug Subutex are the least toxic among the “substitutes” of narcotic drugs and bring the least harm to the dependent patient during treatment. This psychotropic drug gives the drug addict less euphoria and more analgesic effect, which, with its small volume and quantity, does not significantly load the body with toxins.

Buprenorphine, acts on a person after a minute from the time of administration when injected and 10-13 minutes after intramuscular use. The use of Subutex under the tongue is also provided, which gives an effect after 20 minutes. After 25 minutes, in the blood plasma, its maximum value is detected.

Since Subutex is a drug that is 25-35 times stronger in its analgesic properties than Morphine. One third of a milligram (mg) of this drug is equivalent to 11 (mg) of morphine. An increased dose of the drug leads to respiratory depression and causes the following symptoms of poisoning:

• shortness of breath;
• tachycardia;
• severe dizziness;
• vomiting and nausea;
• hallucinogenic visions, delusions;

• jumping consciousness and confused thoughts;
• severe pupillary constriction;
• increased sweating;
• dry mouth;
• if an overdose occurs, then a coma occurs, leading to death.

Subutex, causes a slight but rapid dependence on the use. When taken together with analgesics, the narcotic component, sedatives, benzodiazepines, as well as alcoholic products, will cause a violation in the Central nervous system (CNS).

Dependence on Subutex

Many “specialists” believe that this drug does not harm the use, or does, but very slowly, which makes it possible to avoid overdoses and dependence. This mistake costs many of the emergence of drug addiction from this psychotropic drug, and this is today a proven fact.

During the substitution, no one has yet been able to independently refuse to use this narcotic psychotropic drug. Whoever tries to try to do this will get the resulting withdrawal and “breaking”, which will not be able to be transferred at home. The abstinence from this drug itself is very difficult, because of the synthetic tablets that make up Subutex. Withdrawal syndrome passes with the following symptoms:

• severe pain;
• convulsive impulses;
• vomiting;
• nausea;
• anorexia;
• insomnia;
• hallucinations;
• unstoppable aggression.

Such symptoms cannot be endured by the human psyche and this can lead the drug addict to attempt suicide. This condition requires urgent intervention of a drug treatment clinic and a phased treatment of this disease. Western countries, seeing what is happening, do not abandon this substitution method and began to offer another drug, Suboxone, but where is the guarantee that this method will not bring a more deplorable result than Subutex, because they used to also speak for Buprenorphine.

Distribution of Subutex

Legal narcotic drug involved in the substitution of narcotic drugs and fully controlled by the Government. Let’s see how this happens? You use heroin, and the State gives you Subutex instead, which reduces the euphoric state, or in another way of dating, as an analgesic narcotic drug. In the second method, trying to get away from the pain symptom, you, using Subutex, get drug dependence.

Such narcotic and psychotropic substances, one way or another, end up on the black market, where anyone can buy it for some financial means. More often, it gets on sale from those who themselves, trying to recover from drug addiction, take them out into the masses in the mouth under the tongue or by other methods.

The strong distribution of Buprenorphine, at present, is in trend among drug addicts and it surpassed heroin in its use. What can this fact say? Only that substitution treatment does not bring the expected benefits of therapy, but creates big problems and a new addiction.

What danger does the use of Subutex bring? The addict simply exchanges one drug for another that is milder and less euphoric. As well as in the case of refusal to use, abstinence passes in a milder form, and in order to set the required euphoric state, an increase in the dose of the drug.

This regularity often leads a drug-addicted person into a state of overdose and severe malfunction of the internal organs. According to world-class statistics, substitution therapy significantly reduces the death rate from the use of narcotic drugs, but at the same time leaves the drug addict – a drug addict. It turns out that there is no benefit from treatment with this remedy, in terms of complete recovery, and dependence is intensifying.

How to get rid of dependence on psychotropic Subutex

If you decide to start treatment with drug substitution, you need to remember that this therapy is eternal. You can be treated all your life, and you can return to the previous path from the Subutex medication at any time. Also, dependence on Buprenorphine gradually causes the body to take an increased dose. What to do in order to quit and remove dependence on this drug?

One and the right way out of this situation is a comprehensive course of rehabilitation measures. Our narcological clinic “Hummingbird” can offer complex therapy and complete healing not just from the psychotropic substance Subutex, but from drug addiction to any narcotic drugs.

Narcological assistance – Narcological Clinic “Kolibri”

The specialists of our clinic are well aware of the problems of substitution therapy, therefore, this method is not considered for treatment. After all, if the treatment is violated by the patient, after a while he gets a strong dependence on a psychotropic drug. This happens in 90% of cases after undergoing complex treatment. Narcological clinic “Hummingbird”, in its methods, focuses on:

• psychological assistance to restore social balance in the environment of life;
• restoration of physical health damaged by drug use;
• using the system of American scientists “12 steps”, modernized for our life;
• systems of physiotherapeutic measures, where the procedures accelerate the process of starting the recovery functions of the body;
• folk and Oriental medicine according to the ancient Chinese teachings.

All these methods have shown their capabilities and results, so the percentage of recovering wards is constantly increasing.

The beginning of drug addiction treatment takes place after diagnostic measures in the quarantine sector of the Hummingbird Narcological Clinic. At this stage, the ward will pass the withdrawal syndrome with the help of our methods of treatment and preparatory psychological rehabilitation courses.

We understand that your relative will not agree to decide on treatment for addiction, so our clinic has a new service “narcologist at home”. When leaving for your address, our employee will find the right words for the ward to make the right choice in favor of a happy and healthy life.

After passing through the quarantine sector of treatment and withdrawal of abstinence, the ward switches to inpatient therapy. At the second stage, a drug addict will be offered a choice of 2-3-4-bed comfortable places in our residential housing construction. All courses of treatment and intensive care are under the round-the-clock supervision of our medical staff, therefore, all unforeseen situations with the patient’s health are resolved quickly and without delay.

Turning to the NC “Hummingbird”, after undergoing rehabilitation measures, you get the opportunity to look at the world with different and more sober eyes.

All information about our clinic is available on our official website, where you can leave questions or ask for help from our specialists. Helping you, we make the world cleaner from the vices of drug addiction and other pathogenic addictions.

Charlette’s Story – Client Story

You saw me – all of me – within the first day.

By the summer of 2019, Charlette had been living on the streets of Seattle for six years. The heroin took a toll on her body and mind. But she wasn’t ready for the change until she lost six of her friends to an overdose in one week.

Grieving, Charlett called her sister to bring her back to Portland.

When she entered the new Blackburn Center on the east side of Portland, Charlett was one of the first to walk through its doors. She expected to fill out some paperwork and schedule an admissions meeting a few weeks later.

But that’s not the case at Blackburn.

Within an hour, Charlette transferred her insurance to Oregon, she saw a primary care physician who treated her long-neglected thyroid condition, and visited a mental health practitioner who prescribed medication to ease her withdrawal symptoms. Shortly thereafter, she was able to buy the drug, Suboxone, from the Blackburn Pharmacy.

If Charlett’s story had stopped there, it would have been powerful compared to many other recovery journeys. But at Blackburn, things are not like that.

The center was designed to break the stigma of addiction and reduce systemic barriers to health by prioritizing the needs of its residents.

In the coming weeks, Charlett received individual and group counseling about her substance use. And she joined 80 other residents of the Blackburn Flats, CCC’s newest alcohol- and drug-free temporary housing.

Community recovery

Living in Blackburn meant Charlett wasn’t just in good health – she had neighbors who understood what she was going through.

The floors are designed with wide corridors and seating areas to bring people together. Each floor also has a communal kitchen to encourage sharing meals and peer support.

Every day at 4:00 pm she joined the rest of the residents and Blackburn staff in the community common room.