Suboxone in the Berkshires

[kingstampy]

people in the berkshire area are making people on Suboxone feel unwelcome at meetings. Since this is a small area, people looking for recovery dont have many options. I know its considered substituting, but anyone on the medicine knows that there isnt a high that comes with things like methadone. Personally, tradition 3 is the most important thing in NA.......everyone is supposed to feel welcome, and theyre not. I have seen the backlash in action and it is appaling to me.

People are going to die because some people dont feel welcome at meetings and will end up using......IS THIS RIGHT? I dont think so, but some of the old-timers up here are confused.......they are under the impression that they should give medical advice.

[lucyo]

i agree, tradition 3 is very important, it says the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using. people on suboxone can be a member of NA just like anyone else if they have a desire to stop using.

maybe they don't feel welcome because they're asked not to share or because they don't qualify for trusted servant positions? a lot of groups around the country, maybe around the world, ask members not to share if they have used in the last 24 hours. some people consider drug replacement using. maybe they go in the meetings and talk about suboxone and others dont want to hear about it in an NA meeting (i've heard that happens in some meetings around here)... i sure wouldn't want to hear about it in a meeting. i come to na to learn about na and how to stay clean working the steps. not how to substitute one drug for another. i'm not against suboxone... if thats what it takes to get someone clean, but its not NA.

how about start a new group if you feel the ones there aren't welcoming to people on drug replacement therapy. thats usually how new groups get started, someone doesn't like what a group is doing so they start a new group. thats partly how my homegroup got started.

are the old timers are giving their esh... which is you can get clean without suboxone/methadone/whatever other new drug is now available - cause they got clean without substituting/replacing one drug for another?

[kingstampy]

Originally Posted by lucyo

i agree, tradition 3 is very important, it says the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using. people on suboxone can be a member of NA just like anyone else if they have a desire to stop using.

maybe they don't feel welcome because they're asked not to share or because they don't qualify for trusted servant positions? a lot of groups around the country, maybe around the world, ask members not to share if they have used in the last 24 hours. some people consider drug replacement using. maybe they go in the meetings and talk about suboxone and others dont want to hear about it in an NA meeting (i've heard that happens in some meetings around here)... i sure wouldn't want to hear about it in a meeting. i come to na to learn about na and how to stay clean working the steps. not how to substitute one drug for another. i'm not against suboxone... if thats what it takes to get someone clean, but its not NA.

What about people who need CAMPRAL to avoid alcohol? Is this substituting? NA focuses on changing your life, the drugs are just a symptom of the disease. If people are changing their insides with the aid of suboxone, thats fine with me

Originally Posted by lucyo

how about start a new group if you feel the ones there aren't welcoming to people on drug replacement therapy. thats usually how new groups get started, someone doesn't like what a group is doing so they start a new group. thats partly how my homegroup got started.

are the old timers are giving their esh... which is you can get clean without suboxone/methadone/whatever other new drug is now available - cause they got clean without substituting/replacing one drug for another?

Methadone is different because it is sedating, overprescribed and abused. Suboxone is only used for the purpose of helping opiate addicts and has no "high". Ive used both and Methadone is an abusable drug, while suboxone has as much of a high as wellbutrin or celexa.....


these people are NOT talking about it at all, actually people in NA have been seen waiting outside the center where people see their suboxone prescriber and calling them out at meetings and other NA gatherings. There arent many options in western mass, and there sure arent enough meetings to avoid the people who are against it. IMHO, someones medicine is their own business. Im not a doctor, and neither are the people who are calling people out who are on medications. It is absolutely embarrassing to see the way people are acting out here. I dont need suboxone anymore,but i did in the past, and it SAVED my life. People are coming off of it so they can "fit in", and some of those people are relapsing. People can and will end up dying on the streets if theyre not welcomed into the program.

[lucyo]

dont know what else to say... except i believe in complete abstinence from mood/mind altering drugs.

but i'm not one of those that will call someone out and make a big deal publicly about someone's medication.

and i know anyone can be a member of narcotics anonymous if they have a desire to stop using

i realize suboxone is different than methadone, but i dont believe its completely safe because i've read on the suboxone website the side effects/possible side effects... but when i took interferon it wasn't 100% safe either, it made me depressed as hell.

i do believe its mood/mind altering because of things i read on the suboxone website. and just like i worked with my sponsee and was patient with him in getting off methadone, i would do the same with someone on suboxone... but i wouldn't suggest they get involved with service until free from it... and if they had started working the steps, i would suggest they start over when they're clean from the suboxone/methadone.

wellbutrin or celexa not sure what that has to do with this... are those drug replacement therapy drugs, since that's what we're talking about
..... and i've never heard of campral

[ccgirl]

I'm not sure what part of the Berkshires you're in, but are you close to Amherst or North Hampton? Those are two pretty forward thinking towns.