[aoeuaue]

Yes, the addiction is still present. If I stop taking suboxone I will start feeling a little bad (depression, etc) by day 2 and will start withdrawing (feels like a really bad cold) on day 3. By day 4, I would be throwing up and unable to move/function.

The only downside of suboxone is that due to its long half-life, the withdrawals last a long, long time. With heroin you are out of the woods by day 4 or 5, but with suboxone, withdrawels last weeks/months.

[marincounty]

Try getting your dose of Suboxone to less that 1/2 mg for at least a few weeks. Then try stopping again. You might need to take micro doses every other day for weeks before you can stop completely. Remember, we have been conditioned to believe it's harder to get off of through a lot of hysteria, and drama. It's almost like a negative placebo effect.

[frozenport]

It is immediately clear that is too addictive for all but the worse cases. What would happen if instead of taking this stuff you were supervised by a physician during withdrawal? Would you be addiction free after 2 weeks?

[girvo]

Addiction is not just a physical process. I chose to go on Suboxone as dealing with the mental effects, the life changes I needed to make, and my already existing depression on top of heroin withdrawal was infeasible.

So, while yes, the "physical" part may be done, the rule of thumb that my clinic gave me was "Half the time you were addicted". I was an addict for 6 years, they work on 3 years clean before I'm truly "cured".