Suboxone, Was introduced to the public only a short time ago I don't have the exact date but while it has been on the market it has mad tremendous impact on the opiate dependant population. It has been reported that there is an estimated 1.1 million intravenous opiate user's world wide. And since this new drug has been introduced that population has been dramatically decreasing in size.

Suboxone ( an alternative to Methadone) was created for the user to be able to avoid withdrawal symptoms while in the mean time during treatment rebuilding the receptors in the brain that have been destroyed while using narcotics.

Suboxone® comes in tablets of 2 mg and 8 mg, but virtually no one will respond to the 2 mg dose. In general, 8 mg or 16 mg is the optimal dose.

On December 8, 2006, Federal legislation was passed allowing physicians to treat up to 100 opioid dependent patients with Suboxone at any given time-a significant increase from the previous limit of 30 patients.

Currently is the only centrally-approved product for treatment of opioid dependence in the European Union (EU). The approval results in Marketing Authorization with unified labeling that is valid in the current 25 EU member states as well as in Iceland and Norway. The approval follows a positive opinion recommending approval that was granted on July 27 by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA).

``This medication has the potential to wipe out at least 50 percent of the national demand for heroin," said Dr. Claude Curran , a Fall River psychiatrist who defied the federal limit last year. Curran prescribed Suboxone to 800 patients before the DEA forced him to dramatically scale back by transferring patients to other doctors or terminating their treatment.