Answered By: Addiction Specialist

Answer: The naloxone in Suboxone is not orally absorbed so if the Suboxone was taken orally the naloxone will have little or no effect on the action of other drugs. If the Suboxone was crushed and injected, the naloxone will block the effect of drugs with opiate receptor agonism for several hours (it has a half life of 64 minutes). This is in fact why naloxone is included in Suboxone, to prevent misuse by injection. It is important to remember, however, that the other drug in Suboxone, buprenorphine, has a very high affinity for opiate receptors and itself will block the action of most other opiates. Buprenorphine has a half life of 20-44 and thus will have this effect for much longer than Suboxone. This is very important because if someone decides to use a full agonist opiate such as heroin, oxycodone, morphine, etc. while on Suboxone, the dose required to overcome the buprenorphine may be so high that it can cause overdose as the buprenorphine wears off.

Answered on: January 26, 2009