The article didn't really explain the justification for the crackdown on Subutex except for the usual "drugs are bad, mmmkay". It seems like Subutex is a good cure for misery without serious side effects.
can induce mild withdrawal symptoms in patients dependent on opioids; also diarrhoea, abdominal pain, anorexia, dyspepsia; vasodilatation; dyspnoea; paraesthesia, asthenia, fati- gue, agitation, anxiety; less commonly flatulence, taste disturbance, angina, hypertension, syncope, hypoxia, wheezing, cough, restlessness, depersonali- sation, dysarthria, impaired memory, hypoaesthesia, tremor, influenza-like symptoms, pyrexia, rhinitis, rigors, muscle cramp, myalgia, tinnitus, dry eye, and dry skin; rarely paralytic ileus, dysphagia, impaired concentration, and psychosis; very rarely retching, hyperventilation, hiccups, and muscle fasciculation
--British National Formulary 59
As well as all the complications that come from self-injecting with potentially non-sterile equipment, and of things not intended for IV use (crushed pills have a number of inactive different binders and fillers that don't dissolve and get lodged somewhere in the body, typically the lungs[2]) It's metabolism can be pretty hard on the liver as well, which is a major concern if users have hepatitis from needle sharing/reuse.
Another big problem is that since it operates as an opioid receptor anagonist (rather than an agonist, as practically all other opioids), the usual treatment for overdose -- Naloxone -- won't work very well. Buprenorphine also has a fairly hard effectiveness ceiling at ~32mg/day (although it would be a lucky/rich addict indeed who could afford that at €300/8mg quoted in the article)
Finally, if an addict ends up in hospital or requires strong pain-relief, there's not a lot of options because the blockade effect will prevent (afaik) virtually all other opioids from working.
I assume it's because the mob eventually got involved. Plus, the authors comment about his first trip there makes me think they wanted to clean up the country so as to not scare off tourists.
can induce mild withdrawal symptoms in patients dependent on opioids; also diarrhoea, abdominal pain, anorexia, dyspepsia; vasodilatation; dyspnoea; paraesthesia, asthenia, fati- gue, agitation, anxiety; less commonly flatulence, taste disturbance, angina, hypertension, syncope, hypoxia, wheezing, cough, restlessness, depersonali- sation, dysarthria, impaired memory, hypoaesthesia, tremor, influenza-like symptoms, pyrexia, rhinitis, rigors, muscle cramp, myalgia, tinnitus, dry eye, and dry skin; rarely paralytic ileus, dysphagia, impaired concentration, and psychosis; very rarely retching, hyperventilation, hiccups, and muscle fasciculation
As well as all the complications that come from self-injecting with potentially non-sterile equipment, and of things not intended for IV use (crushed pills have a number of inactive different binders and fillers that don't dissolve and get lodged somewhere in the body, typically the lungs[2]) It's metabolism can be pretty hard on the liver as well, which is a major concern if users have hepatitis from needle sharing/reuse.Another big problem is that since it operates as an opioid receptor anagonist (rather than an agonist, as practically all other opioids), the usual treatment for overdose -- Naloxone -- won't work very well. Buprenorphine also has a fairly hard effectiveness ceiling at ~32mg/day (although it would be a lucky/rich addict indeed who could afford that at €300/8mg quoted in the article)
Finally, if an addict ends up in hospital or requires strong pain-relief, there's not a lot of options because the blockade effect will prevent (afaik) virtually all other opioids from working.
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1276621/