These new regulations are hurting people that have a documented hypersensitivity/allergy on record. They are already being turned away from treatment because the doctors hands are tied. According to the legislative site the bill was never signed. When I called the Governors office on march 16th I was told the bill hadn't been signed. It was put into effect anyway. I can understand regulations on medications but to turn patients away because they cannot have the combination drug is wrong. These patients have been trying to get their lives together, and as far as I know most doctors won't write buprenorphine mono unless they have a reason too in the first place. I urge you all to amend the regulations and allow people with a hypersensitivity/allergy to also be allowed to get a prescription at the very least. I believe OTP cinics should also be allowed to dispense it in take homes, because patients that go to these clinics have earned their take homes just like a methadone patient did. They went for months on end to earn their couple of take homes and after around 9 months they earn a week. Switching what medications an OTP can dispense increases cost to the patient and the clinic. The patients that do have a documented allergy on file should be allowed to continue to get a prescription. It isn't their fault they cannot have the combination drug. I'm sure if they could they would rather do that than lose treatment all together. The 2 closest clinics in my area are both around 50 miles away one way. One of them is in Virginia, and this town has no doctors in it so a lot of the people that are struggling with opiate dependency are now back on the streets. I am from Virginia originally and live right on its boarder now. In this war on addiction kicking people out of treatment because of something they cannot control doesn't do anything but hurt the communities around us. 

Did anyone research and think about the side affects of naloxone. There are people allergic to it and just simply can't take it or if they dont have insurance they can't afford it. They are running people back to the streets and the drug cartels are going to have heroin everywhere now. Why put laws on the things that's helping. I have 3 children 2 teenagers and 1 that's 12, it scares the crap out of me and all the government is doing is making it worse.

I don't?live in VA, but I have been taking buprenorphine for a few years now. It has saved my life along with countless others. We are all well aware of the fact that these drugs can and will be abused, but I am also very aware of the fact that whether it's plain buprenorphine or bup/ naloxone, those who are abusing these meds will not be deterred by the naloxone. The only thing this law is doing is hurting people who have serious allergies as well as those who can't afford the ridiculously high price of anything but buprenorphine (which from my experience can be around $100 less than buprenorphine/naloxone). If a doctor forced someone to take a certain brand of insulin that that patient was allergic to, that doctor could be sued for malpractice if said patient ended up having serious issues due to that allergy. Addiction treatment, just like all medical treatments, should be considered on a patient to patient basis. The government needs to stop trying to lump everyone into a single category, because we are all different and what works for one may not work for another and it saddens me to know that instead of thinking of us as different people trying to heal our ailments, we are all still considered just as bad as the guy shooting heroin on the street.

I am very concerned about this bill and the adverse affects on those individuals struggling with opiate addiction and allergic to naloxone. I personally am aware of one young one who has been successful with subutex who now has to start a new medication with a low dose of naloxone who after the first day is experiencing severe nausea and depression and has hives on her neck. She is a freshman at VCU and has done well on subutex over the past 7 months. After 2 years of multiple rehabs, IOP's, different medication management programs including suboxone which she is allergic to and has had ER visit for respiratory distress after starting suboxone. My understanding is that the SAMSHA recommendations include subutex for individuals who have medically been determined to have an allergy for naloaxone. I am perplexed why the Commonwealth of VA would go against those recommendations and outlaw any treatment for anyone with an opiate addiction that been successful and then mandate taking a medicine that one is allergic too as the only alternative for medication assisted treatment. Seems like a huge liability issue with the very real possibility of death either by overdose of an opiate after relapse because she can not tolerate the naloxone  or a life threatening reaction to naloxone. This is a no brainer and breaks my heart after coming so far personally in this fight for this young girl's life. This law will fail her and most likely will be a death sentence for my loved one....I do not want to loose her and I am angry that this law is taking away the one treatment that has worked for her after so many failed attempts. I do not understand why goverment has to interfer with medicine especially when in this case the medical profession has done a good job in not giving up on this one precious being. I realize the subutex can be abused however why for those who it is working and have an allergy to naloxone and is not abusing this medication, why should the only available treatment that worked be taken away. I think the Commonwealth of VA is punishing and perhaps will cause death for this young girl who is working very hard to beat this addiction. You are setting her up to die in my judgement. My background is in nursing and I am an LPC in Fairfax. Prfessionally and personally I oppose this bill and know first hand there will be fatal outcomes. 

I am writing today about hb2163 bill. I have been sober since 2013. When I first went to get help for my addiction I was prescribed suboxone. After my first dose I broke out in hives, had severe itching, and a migraine. It was then I learned I was allergic to the naloxone in suboxone. I was then switched to a subutex. It was life changing. I got my life back. Since then I have become a mother, a fiancée, a full time worker, and a good person. When I went to my doctors appointment this month I was switched back to suboxone because of this bill, despite my documented allergy. I'm not even sure how this can be legal. So now I have to suffer fromantic hives, itching and migraines everyday.

I am very concerned for my daughters health. She has been sober for years and this bill jeopardizes her sobriety, she is allergic to suboxone but yet she's forced to take it so she doesn't relapse. She is so scared that she will all because of the government had dictation over her medical care. Would you make someone with an infection take a antibiotic that they are allergic to? I didn't think so, so why make all these patients take a medication that could potentionally be life threatening? Please reconsider this bill or put in a clause for the patients who have a documented drug allergy. I'm begging you for my daughters life/sobriety.

I am highly allergic to naloxone and while I agree in emergency forms it's a miracle medication, to some it could also be deadly. When on SUBOXONE I had a lot of "illnesses" passing out, legs going numb, hives, throat feeling as if it was swelling along with MAJOR weight loss I was being tested for cancers and thyroid issues as I had these severe lumps in the back of my neck due to the naloxone also being only 98 lbs and when starting out in late 2013 I was 175. I was switched and my life, depression and health suddenly changed drastically for the better! 16 months on buprenorphine I am completely back to normal with NO strange symptoms, until the switch back tommro which I will be back to losing extreme amounts of weight in which I plan to document daily. I got pregnant when I made the switch however also HAD to stay on (I was tapering off because of how sick I was on suboxone, at 1 mg) i agree that laws DO need to be in place but the allergy tests cannot be faked if one is truly allergic as many others and myself are. Many people I know may relapse because of this people that have lived normal lives on MAT doing the program right up until this was in place. If you're allergic to peanuts, you cannot have them. It's the same thing with this. I know some do abuse this life saving medication but I can promise it's a lot less than the ones actually doing right by it! Please reconsider the allergy test exception because there IS people who cannot take it but want to do right in life. I am tapering again now off the MAT program but wanted to at least taper comfortably and safely without hospitalizations and health issues as I am a mom to 2 small children! 

I feel this bill is a little ridiculous. People are going to abuse any drug, no one will stop them. Their are so many people who are allergic to the nalaxone, I know when I had to make the switch back it was very hard and I was sick for a very long time, and still am. I think passing this bill will cause the ones who really cannot handle the nalaxone to stop taking their medication and end up relapsing because they simply could not handle the affects they get from just the nalaxone. I feel this bill is putting those people at risk and is just going to cause more problems. Its already hard enough to get the medicine we need. And this is making it harder. I hope that you consider our petition. And help save lives.

I have been on Subutex for multiple years and now, I am no longer able to get prescribed it in Va. The only alternate offered give me terrible side effects which are equivalent to withdrawal. It is not tolerable and after over 10 years of sobriety, I am apprehensive about being just taken away with the minimal alternatives.

i agree with amanda and some of the other comments. For some of us we have been on this for years and its not okay to do this when ACTUAL people have had long sobriety runs while taking this medication and are unable to take the other options. If this works for people and has been keeping them sober for YEARS how can you guys do this. Do you understand what is gonna happen or what you guys have done to those this medication has been a life saver for?? This is not right.

Let me start off by saying that Buprenorphine has saved my life. I was on heroin for 7 years and lost everything that meant anything to me, including myself. I went to prison, lied to, and stole from every person in my life. I was in and out of rehabs for years, Nothing worked to keep me clean and keep me as a functioning human being. It wasn't until I discovered Buprenorphine that I was able to get my life on track and start on a positive path to living a clean, sober, happy, productive life for my son and I. I honestly believe it is a miracle medication, and without it I would be dead today. However, I do have Naloxone sensitivity and I am not able to take Suboxone, only Subutex. Severe panic attacks, nightmares, and migraine headaches are just a few of the debilitating side effects I have when taking Naloxone. I have to mention that I have a severe panic disorder, and this being one of the main reasons I began using heroin and other opiate substances, to try and self medicate to not feel the panic attacks. This is just my story of why I can't take Suboxone versus Subutex. There are many other people, like me, with many other legitimate health issues against Naloxone that still do need the Buprenorphine. I do realize that some people abuse the Subutex because it does not contain the Naloxone, but the Buprenorphine is most certainly still an opiate blocker in itself as well, and there will always be some people that abuse things and make it harder for people like myself. I hope that you can understand not everyone is going to do that and there truly are some people that have legitimate reasons for needing the Subutex in place of Suboxone.

I fully appreciate and understand the current opiate crisis our country, and specifically our state, is experiencing. However, these new regulations are putting many stable patients at a great risk for severe illness, or worse. I sincerely hope that this may be revised to include exceptions where medically indicated for those who are unable to safely take Suboxone/Naloxone due to debilitating side effects. These drugs were created to help sick patients, not make patients more sick..

All forms of medication assisted treatment are the proven most effective treatment for opiate addicts. Restricting anyone from any one form of medication makes no sense. Suboxone and Subutex or generic buprenorphine work exactly the same way and many patients on buprenorphine alone are able to live without chronic headaches and other additional side effects. It is also the least expensive form of medication and not allowing patients to begin or continue this medication is immediately life-threatening. So many people will return to relapse and drug use without the medication that has proven to be effective for them. It is also the least expensive of pharmaceutical treatments so anybody who is paying cash is dependent on a medication they can afford. There is absolutely no reason to demand these patients be switched to a medication with naloxone that is three or four times more expensive when the new loxone has been proven to be inactive. I don't know what occurred to encourage this change but it is not the right way to go. Take some time to get to know the patients who all their lives two these life-saving medications. Or those lives worth compromising for the change that has been set in place? I think all of us can agree that they are not. I would be curious to know why these changes have been set in place and I'm 100% positive that some very simple Research into the matter would show that it is unnecessary and also detrimental. If anyone takes the time to read this I very much appreciate it.

The research clearly shows that naloxone is not effective in any route of administration when combined with buprenorphine. Even those who choose to use their medication intravenously will Almost Never become ill with withdrawal symptoms. Buprenorphine itself has a much stronger binding affinity to opiate receptors and last several times as long as naloxone meaning that the buprenorphine we'll find stronger and longer to receptors then the naloxone ever could. It is truly useless in the presence of buprenorphine. So there is no reason two insist that that formulation is best. All it is is way more expensive. The buprenorphine alone will block a patient from being able to use other full Agonist opiates and achieve a high. Then the lock Zone does absolutely nothing and is a waste of time money and resources. This is very simple science that can be confirmed on any reputable website or other source. It is widely misunderstood but it is the scientific truth. Please don't make those in recovery suffer because of false information. Thank you

I am in Ohio AMD currently pregnant and on subutex. What I've found is that some people are actually allergic to the nalaxone in Suboxone and can become very sick when it is taken. We do not prohibit a person with allergies to an antibiotic from receiving the next best option so why is it fair to do with Subutex? The government is stepping in where they should be monitoring prescription distribution and the policies required for the doctors prescribing Subutex. Everything is abused if it has any desirable traits. To make people trying to better their lives from a past addiction to lose any chance at receiving their medication is unfair and unjust. We are being treated differently because we are addicts. Most opiate addictions stem from doctors over prescribing narcotic pain meds. It's time to move forward in the battle against heroin addiction and passing this bill is pushing hundreds or thousands of recovering addicts back into addiction because without their medicine they are very sick, just like a diabetic without insulin or a cancer patient with no access to pain relief or chemotherapy. You're playing with people's lives when people are dying left and right due to opiate addiction. Please reconsider this decision. Thank you.

Subutex should allowed to be given, not taken away.  Some people are allergic to the naloxone, or cannot afford Suboxone. Anything that can help our addicts get clean legally and responsibly should be allowed. If abuse or illegal selling is a worry, then reduce the prescription length, and keep the practice of counting pills. Or do something like they do with suboxone strips--put each pill in an individual packet and have them counted at the doctors office--used ones and unused ones!

Please reconsider adding a clause to this bill to include people with a hypersensitivity to naloxone if it isn't included what is a person to do the only option is methadone a far more dangerous drug

HB 2163 will do harm to those that can not afford suboxone and to those that have a legit hypersensitivity to naloxone. This is not a one size fits all situation. Some people who can not take suboxone are unable to get to a methadone clinic everyday or can not afford it. Suboxone and methadone are both abused and sold on the streets, and in my opinion methadone is so much worse than plain buprenorphine/subutex. This law wouldn't be a bad idea if it included that people with a legit reaction to naloxone, documented and seen by a doctor could still receive mono-buprenorphine/subutex. And also allow people to still continue getting take homes from the clinics. I feel like something needs to be changed in this law cause people are going to resort back to illicit street drugs because they are either allergic to or can not afford suboxone or even get to a methadone clinic every day. Over doses are going to go back up. In my opinion addicts are going to use no matter what, but it would be safer for them to take a life saving drug than to take heroin. Please rethink this bill.

Seems a lack of knowledge is going on stop being so ignorant and focus on helping people.

I am a patient who has been on buprenorphine mono (subutex) for 3 years. I am asking that you please overturn this bill as it endangers the sobriety and lives of people like me. I have a bad reaction to naloxone, so being forced to take suboxone has been a nightmare, but i have no other option because of the governments decision to only allow pregnant women to have it. I cannot allow myself to go back to the lifestyle i was living before I was put on this medication. I have been very successful in recovery, I have been able to hold a full time job, i volunteer in my community as a soccer coach, and i volunteer my time in a classroom working with kindergartners every Tuesday. I have 2 children who need their mom to be 100%, and without this nedication, I am not able to provide that. Put more strict rules down, call for mandatory pill counts, whatever is necessary, but please allow those of us who have done so well on this medication, to continue living fulfilling lives. This will turn so many back to the streets, and so many lives will be lost to the nasty throws of addiction because those people wont be able to get the treatment they need. Please help us who are trying to help ourselves and overturn this bill.

I myself also have an allergy to Naloxone, and would like for you to please reconsider allowing ppl with allergies to stay on this medication. It really scares people to think their only option to stay clean is going to be taken away from them. So please reconsider this.

I'm not sure why this has been done since my doctor said there's not alot of propping mixing subutex with opiates and dying but there are people selling it. If that's the reason well it's still gonna be on the street and I would have to assume the street value probably doubled making it more enticing for people to sell. It's not fair for so many of us to suffer for the mistakes of a few. Why not make it up to the doctor and make the guidelines that he would have to have explanations to back up his reasoning. I have a strict doctor who doesn't give subutex unless it's necessary. I have a severe migraine disorder with over a decade of medical records. My neurologist as well as my subutex doctor agree I can't take suboxone. Unfortunately my migraines are so severe that I wouldn't be able to work and finish college and raise children if I were on suboxone so I'm being weaned off of subutex and I'm definitely not ready. I have a chronic pain disorder which is how I ended up on pain meds to begin with. The subutex helps with my pain as well as keeps me off the opiates. I'm gonna try but I'm very concerned that I will be back on pills. We are begging you,please fix this. Too Manu people will go back to pills and heroin and now there tolerance is gonna be messed up and we could end up dead. This will cost more lives than it saves.

Please undo this new regulation. I am on subutex and it has saved my life. I was pregnant and breastfeeding and I'm allergic to naloxone. I really really loved my pharmacy and the people who work there. Please take this back!

Medicated assisted therapy is PROVEN TO SAVE LIVES! WHY WOULD YOU EVEN NOT WANT TO HELP SAVE THE LIFE of someone addicted to opioids?

HB2163 will hurt people more than help, it will cost lives. Please take it back, don't do this. Addicts deserve to be rehabilitated, they deserve all the resources they can get, they are not scum or worthless so please don't treat them as such. Some people are allergic to naloxone and honestly it doesn't matter whether a drug has naloxone in it or not, if the person wants to abuse it they will. I was on suboxone treatment for several months and it worked wonders, but I wasn't ready to stop using and my partner was using and I wasn't willing to get away from him so I started back up. Now I'm on methadone because it's cheaper and works even better for me. Please don't make it even harder for people who have it hard already and feel so much guilt and remorse. Don't be inhumane.

 

I think the governor and all of the other dumbasses in Richmond that just voted yes to these bills to get their heads out of each others asses and listen to the practicing Doctors about this instead of listening to the media that has glorified naloxone in the past and realize that there is a such thing as an allergy to this stuff. I have been successful only on buprenorphine monotherapy, I have tried it all and this is the only way I can have a productive life. Please give us our lives back. It's not right to take it away from the ones that have allergies or are hypersensitive to naloxone. Terry McAulliffe get you head out of your ass!!!

Another thing you are setting us up for the biggest heroin epidemic there ever was, because the addicts are out here and u are restricting addiction doctors and pain management doctor where else are they going to go besides the heroin that is most likely laced with something that will kill them. Just wait and see all you dumbasses in Richmond with a blind eye, or should I say with a brown eye, GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF EACH OTHERS ASSES, RICHMOND!!!

I will make this short. I hate to see tgesecregs changed because of people who abuse these meds or don't follow protocols. I have been on methadone and clonopin for 22 years. I am in perfect health, have never had an overdose or and medical problems related to these meds. Please contact me if you would like more info.

I don't understand the DEA, FDA, gov't etc. All these new rules and recomrecommendations for prescribing solves NOTHING. All it will do is push people on pain management to start doing illegal activities such as purchasing pills on the street and when that gets too expensive they will go to heroin and there will be more deaths.why do you think overdoses have increased over the past 5-8 years? Because that is when doctors started to get scared of the DE A and FDA and started cutting people who have legitimate chronic pain diseases such as M.S. or different types of Neuropathy. Before I started methadone I lived in a bed except to use the bathroom and showered 2 or 3 times a week. Since methadone I am as normal as can be with my disease. I only use the bed to sleep 6 or 7 hours a night. But I'm getting off topic. Trillions of dollars have been spent since Nixon started the war on drugs and where has it gotten us? NOWHERE. As long as there are humans walking on this planet there will be a desire, need, want for drugs and that will never change. Someone get in touch with me. I have studied this for 19 years now. I am extremely educated and can offer some good ideas. Thank you.

 

I have been in a subutex outpatient program for about a year now. I have tried other rehab programs in the past, including methadone, but subutex is by far the best. Methadone is extremely hard on your body and the withdraws actually motivate you to keep taking it instead of trying to lower your dose and get clean. Subutex, on the other hand hasn't had any negative impact on my body and I have easily decreased my dose from 24mg per day down to 6mg per day in a matter of three months. I am unable to take suboxone because I have an allergy to naloxone that is a legitimate threat to my wellbeing. My response to naloxone is rapid heart rate, wheezing, dizzy, faint, throat swelling, and without the doctor who recognized the reaction, I may not be here today. I can't believe that this bill was rushed through without any consideration for the people who were benefiting from its use, or people who couldn't take suboxone as an alternative. 

There definitely needs to be provisions to this awful law which consider those patients who are allergic to suboxone. 

My opinion. Don't do it.

People that are truly allergic are losing treatment totally. Doctors that know their patient is allergy/hypersensitivity  they will not write you suboxone or generiic buprenorphine/naloxone PERIOD. I know because someone close to just went throught it. The doctor told them to seek treatment in another state, that they would not right them because of the tongue swelling, and throat swelling. This patient has a true hypersensitivity/allergy and the doctor was so scared of the reaction he wouldn't try to give him the combination tablet because of the tongue swellng. What is a patient to do then, when the doctor cares for the patient but cant treatment. He won't take a chance on writing the Suboxone or the Generic. These patients deserve treatment with this medication too, and methadone isn't a option. He shouldnt have been punished for something he cannot control. What is he supposed to do now?

My fiance is highly allergic to naloxone and tapering off but now suffering from allergy while tapering. She is swelling up, vomiting, cannot move, pain has doubled and very sick. We have two small children and she cannot have these reactions, that's just NOT fair because some abuse it! Drugs will always be a thing, but if the addict wants help thats the only way it will stop. Not allowing the allergy acception is discrimination. These people are living ordinary lives and this is messing with their sobriety. Some with allergies being so bad they're forced out of treatment! Shes been clean for 4 years and now being punished for others who arent truly ready to be clean and do right! Naloxone is poison to these peoples bodies who are allergic! Generally out of 100 patients only 5-10 is allergic! Its also more common for abusers to sell suboxone for their drug of choice than it is subutex!

This is the most ridiculous thing the government can take away from people in the recovery stage..all you are going to do is force some really sincere people that want to get clean hit the streets. Maybe have more overdoses. There is a lot of people that just can not take suboxen due to the huge allergy to naloxen. I have a very close person to me and if something happens to her, the board of medicine will be hearing from me...i vote to keep subutex for the indviduals that cant take suboxen.

Why should my son lose treatment after he has done nothing but follow the rules. His doctor won't even write it unless he cannot have suboxone. Is it fair suboxone patients get to keep on getting treatment, but people like my son that allergies, hypersensitivity whatever you want to call it have tongue swelling, throat swelling, and Hives documented just lose treatment. My son was getting his life together, and doing well on buprenorphine treatment, and he has no alternative. He cannot go to a methadone clinic everyday, and everyone knows methadone is a far more powerful drug. Please reconsider this bill before people lose their kids to the streets.

SAMSHA recommends use of Buprenorpine mono product when there is an allergy or other adverse medical reaction to products containing Naloxone. My 19 year old daughter has only had success on Subutex. Naloxone resulted in hives, rash, nausea, depression and a respiratory reaction requiring ER intervention. This mandate not only ignores established guidelines, it is punitive in nature in that patients who have followed protocol and have demonstrated success are being denied proven effective treatment. Any drug can be abused: this mandate is not going to assist or deter active addicts who are not invested in recovery. It will put the fragile recovery of many others at risk and denies physicians the right to use sound clinical judgement in continuing Bupe only protocols with patients who have demonstrated success and have documented sensitvity to Naloxone. A well intended law with potentially fatal outcomes.

My husband is allergic to nalaxone when he first started taking suboxone he woke up in the middle of the night with a severe reaction. He broke out in hives, and he swelled up. Why is it because his body doesn't agree with a medication is he being punished? You want to help addicts. All you are doing is hurting them. People are losing there doctor. God forbid something happens to someone you will have one help of a lawsuit. This is a joke and the sad thing is you are playing with so many people's lives. What if it was your brother, mother, father, sister? Would you have thought more about what you are doing to addicts?

first I've been clean for 5 1/2 years! I've been taking subutex because I'm allergic to the naloxone. I had to leave my doctor of 5 1/2 years to go to another states so I won't relapse! As my treatment is none of the governments business in the first place!!! I understand people abuse this medication but in all HONESTY YOU WHAT MEDICATION ISNT ABUSED! Are you going to pass bills for all medication?!?!?!?! Did you go to school as long as my doctors did? Do you know the first thing about and addict???? I don't think you do! NO ADDICT GOES THROUGH CHANGE WELL! I pray this doesn't turn people back to the horrible herion that's going around killing people! Better yet WHY DONT YOU BAN THE OPIATES? That's the reason behind this! Opiates don't take the pain away but subutex does! You can't even die from it! The sad part is whoever reads this don't care about us addicts. Oh and no matter what you pass it's NOT GOING TO STOP THE FEW IDIOTS THAT ABSUE MEDICATION! Let our doctors do their jobs and you do yours by governing not by taking away the one medication that saves lives! 

Let me first start by saying that I absolutely think there DO need to be stricter laws and regulations on subutex. But, I think that if a person can prove that they have a legitimate allergy, they should be exempt from that. I have been on suboxone for over 10 years. I know more about this medication than most doctors. I have researched it. I have become passionate about it. I have had 8 major reconstructive surgeries while on it. I have had a vaginal delivery while on it. I have had a c section while on it. I know for a fact that suboxone is often misused and abused as well. And aren't all medications? People abuse medications all the time. That is What lead most people to seek the assistance of Buperenorphine in the first place. There are some people that have legitimate naloxone allergies and sensitivities that will suffer from the fact that allergy exemptions are not allowed. Do we really want to exclude them? People with children to take care of, jobs to go to go to, lives to live, and this medication helps them do that. Yes, there do need to be some stricter regulations. Absolutely. But if a person can show that they are truly allergic to the naloxone, or truly are effected by the naloxone, then they need to be exempt. O

As an MMT (methadone maintenance treatment) Patient & MAT Advocate, I am so SADDENED and honestly ANGRY about what this mandate is doing to my peers who have found Recovery thanks to Mono-Buprenorphine. I cannot IMAGINE after years of habing my life saved by my treatment only to have it RIPPED AWAY by some half baked legislation. Sure there are always reasons to regulate medications. We MMT Patients have TONS of regulations we follow in our treatment. HOWEVER NONE of those regulations strip us of our treatment. To take away a LIFE SAVING TREATMENT OPTION in the midst of the Opioid Epidemic that kills thousands every year is shameful! Its insanity and it WILL COST MORE LIVES! Im not saying 'dont' bc like I said, regulations need to exist. But government practicing medicine simply bc they have the 'Medical Board' of the state backing their play is WRONG! All we are asking is simply to ALLOW those with documented hypersensitnvity to naloxone to receive Mono-Buprenorphine. To GOVERNMENT its simply WORDS TO PAPER. To a Recovering Addict who NEEDS this TREATMENT, its their LIFE! Do whats RIGHT! Not whats the 'easy road'. We HAVE to work to save lives. NOT SHATTER them. Change this legislation. Dont sign it into effect as is. AC

This was given to me by the FDA. Allergy exceptions are needed or people are going to relapse or die from this. This is NOT SAFE! 

 

"SUBOXONE and SUBUTEX should not be administered to patients who have been shown to be hypersensitive to buprenorphine, and SUBOXONE should not be administered to patients who have been shown to be hypersensitive to naloxone."

 

https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=97677ce7-9562-43d0-8b99-8d1f37c1e3c6

I would never want to be forced into taking a drug I'm allergic too.

I'm afraid to say that whoever is trying to pass this does not have the proper information about these addiction medications. Doctirs understand their patients and treat them accordingly and the government needs to stay out of that. You are taking people that are in recovery, and making it impossible to continue on their Ned's. A lot of people are allergic to the Nalaxone. The fact that pregnant women should not take it should he your first sign on how dangerous Nalaxone can be. There are different degrees of addiction. Some are not as serious as others but the withdrawal is still just as hard. Why force someone to take a medication that makes them more sick when another is there that does the same?? You really need to put a halt on this law, asap until you can do further research. The only thing that will come out of this, is causing thousands of people to relapse which in turn can be fatal.

This is  well intended law, however deeply flawed.  It ignores established guidelines.  It puts the  recovery of citizens at risk and does not allow doctors the right to use sound clinical judgement.  This law should be modified.

Giving buprenorphine to pain patients and animals but not the ones allergic to suboxone.. Don't you know subutex was MADE FOR ADDICTION not for pain not for animals none of that however it helps but don't ignore the reason why it was made and it legally is FDA approved FOR ADDICTION!! You can abuse anything.. I'm wondering if the plan was to start a heroin epidemic here a bigger one because I'm not sure how taking away an addicts addiction medicine solves anything.. As the board of medicine you should know that not everyone is the same, not everyone can tolerate naloxone! Go after the pain drs overprescribing to these "pain patients" which we all know half of them don't need hard medications like that and keep in mind THATS what got the addicts to need addiction medicine to begin with.. A good amount do not start out on heroin, in fact I've never met one who did it all started with the oxys, morphine, percocets you know thepharmaceuticals!