There seems to have been a shift in treatment philosophy since I began ORT in '98. Then, there was a requirement that your counselor had to discuss tapering off from time to time. In '02, when Federal guidelines changed, so dis treatment goals. Now, they recognize that maintenance is a long-term commitment and that stability is the final goal.
With suboxone, there have been more and more young patients, pain patients, and addicts that try to stop earlier in their addictions. All this variety produces variations in treatment goals. It seems quite a few start out thinking ORT is the easiest way to go, and assume treatment will be short-term. No one can really know going in, and I think some simply assume they will taper off quickly. This may not be possible.