Dopesick
by Beth Macy

Buprenorphine Term Analysis

Buprenorphine is the generic name for a drug used in MAT to treat recovering addicts.

Buprenorphine Quotes in Dopesick

The Dopesick quotes below are all either spoken by Buprenorphine or refer to Buprenorphine. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Poverty as an Obstacle to Recovery  Theme Icon
).

Chapter 10 Quotes

Tess was nearly seven months pregnant when she left jail in June 2015. For a month, she lived with her mom and tried to make a go of it with her boyfriend, the baby’s father—“disastrous,” Patricia and Tess agreed—before they found a private treatment center two hours away that would take Tess during her final month of pregnancy. Private insurance covered most of the $20,000 bill while her dad paid the $6,500 deductible, using the remainder of Tess’s college-savings fund. The Life Center of Galax was one of the few Virginia facilities that accepted patients on medication-assisted treatment (methadone or buprenorphine). Tess was now taking Subutex, a form of buprenorphine then recommended for some pregnant mothers. (Suboxone is typically the preferred MAT for opioid users because it also contains naloxone, an opiate blocker; Subutex, which is buprenorphine with no added blocker, was then considered safer for the baby but more likely to be abused by the mom.)

Related Characters: Tess Henry, Patricia Mehrmann
Page Number and Citation: 209
Explanation and Analysis:
This passage introduces Tess Henry, who struggles with addiction and who, out of all the people Macy profiles in Dopesick, receives the fullest profile. While Macy frequently cites broad studies and population-level statistics in Dopesick, she also tries to make sure that the stories of individuals get highlighted and that no one is reduced to an oversimplified label like “addict.” Tess’s story makes a good case study because it is full of twists and turns. Like many opioid users, Tess began with promise—young, athletic, and seemingly as healthy as possible. Through sheer bad luck and bad timing, however, she ends Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iur
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Buprenorphine Term Timeline in Dopesick

The timeline below shows where the term Buprenorphine appears in Dopesick. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 10
Poverty as an Obstacle to Recovery  Theme Icon
The Value of Science Theme Icon
Tess’s goal in 2016 is to be a good mother. Her treatment with buprenorphine helps her to feel normal, but although much of her treatment is covered by insurance,... (full context)
Fighting the Medical Establishment Theme Icon
The Value of Science Theme Icon
Many public health officials consider buprenorphine, a type of MAT, to be the gold standard treatment for opioid addiction, reducing the... (full context)
Fighting the Medical Establishment Theme Icon
The Value of Science Theme Icon
Because of the high demand for buprenorphine and other MAT drugs, there’s also a lot of black market dealing of these drugs,... (full context)
Poverty as an Obstacle to Recovery  Theme Icon
The Value of Science Theme Icon
Jamie Waldrop and Janine Underwood of the Hope Initiative are opposed to buprenorphine because, based on the experience of their sons, they felt that the drug was too... (full context)
Poverty as an Obstacle to Recovery  Theme Icon
Cycles of History Theme Icon
The Value of Science Theme Icon
...to treat opioid addiction was discovered early, but regulatory agencies continued to restrict its use. Buprenorphine and naltrexone were part of a new generation of MAT that were formulated in an... (full context)
The Value of Science Theme Icon
Research shows that buprenorphine is safer than methadone when taken in excess, but surprisingly, the drug still goes on... (full context)
Poverty as an Obstacle to Recovery  Theme Icon
The Value of Science Theme Icon
...One of Tess’s friends, Jordan “Joey” Gilbert, talks about success with naltrexone, before switching to buprenorphine because of naltrexone’s high cost. (full context)