Of course there is no magic pill for drug addiction. The only magic pill comes in the form of dedicated treatment providers, unbending will and hard work over time. There have been some significant advances of the drug antagonist pharmaceutical variety and they can be a powerful tool in fighting some addictions.
Certain opiate antagonists like Naltrexone and the Naltraxone implant have been ill received by some treatment providers largely because of the almost immediate misuse of the drug. Naltrexone when introduced into the body of an opiate addict in appropriate levels will make it virtually impossible for the individual to get high from an opiate based drug, Heroin, Oxycontin, Lortab etc. It is known as an opiate antagonist in that it has an antagonistic reaction with the drug and negates the euphoric effect.
Almost immediately following the release of the Naltrexone implant certain people felt to capitalize on the drug by offering it as a cure all to opiate addiction. Weary parents and loved ones of opiate addicts were more than willing to fork out a lot of money for the touted miracle implant. However disappointment would soon follow as they found that the implant did not stop the addiction. Addicts usually have fostered the ability to do anything it takes to get high and the implant alone did not and could not stop that from happening. Some addicts would remove the implant themselves just long enough for the levels to drop and then they could use. Others would simply switch to Cocaine, Methamphetamine or even abuse Zanex. So what could have been and still is a great tool to treat opiate addiction has met with some degree of criticism because it didnt cure the addiction all by itself.
Opiate addictions are particularly insidious because the physical addiction to the drug is so powerful it makes addressing psychological addiction issues extremely difficult, this is especially true in an outpatient setting. Keeping the addict sober long enough to break down thinking errors and self defeating behavior patterns can be a daunting challenge. This is where the Opiate antagonist comes in, not as a miracle drug but as a powerful tool to place in your treatment tool belt.
In my opinion putting a Naltrexone implant in an addict with no well structured treatment regimen in place is just setting them up for yet another failure. And worse than that what could have been a boon for their overall treatment strategy is now dismissed as just another attempt at sobriety.
It is enticing to addicts and their loved ones to think that they can recover months and years of addiction by just popping a pill, but nothing could be farther from the truth. In most cases there has been a great deal of change in their lives, attitudes, habits, and in reality every facet. I had a client that had graduated from my program, once tell me that he expected absolutely nothing out of life until he had spent as many years clean doing good things as he had spent as an addict being a criminal. I think there is a lot of truth in that statement, you cannot recover ground in a day, week, month or even year that has taken you years to lose. In short the Opiate antagonist could be of great benefit in the recovery process as long as it is used in conjunction with competent treatment methods, not as a miracle drug but a tool in the miracle of recovery.
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