Suboxone Program

[I won]

Does anyone have any experience with the Drug treatment program at VA? My son has been struggling with a opiate addiction and has been on the program here in California and in Ohio. He has been on a Suboxone maintence program for 13 months.

They have done some things that are crappy.. a month ago someone from the clinic called him in to do a pill count.. When he did not come because he had a emergency with his child he was told next time he messed up he would be kicked off. Last week because he would not urinate in front of the nurse they made him take blood. His urine test came out clean and only showed suboxone.

He sent a letter of complaint to Carolyn Clancy about their treatment of him on Tuesday.. Today when he went in they kicked him off the program because they said his blood test came back dirty for marijuana.. They accused him of using someones urine because his urine test came back clean for everything but Suboxone. Their is no blood test posted doing ebenefits showing he tested dirty..

I wrote emails to the Director of Columbus, and Carolyn Clancy and the other big wigs.

Has anyone had problems with their substance abuse programs?

[Navy04]

I Won, sorry for what you are going thru, but sad to say that your son is not following the rules. Seems like too much going on, and playing the old everyone versus him game. My little brother started this stuff as a teenager, and at 30 he still blames everyone else. I am on a lot of PTSD narcotics, never drank or did drugs in my life, and I have been called multiple times for urine and blood test. I live over 200-300 miles round trip from the 2 VAs I use, and guess what, I still have to go. My stupid post office kept leaving my meds on the porch, and I have a big dog that likes to chew everything. I had to go to Sheriff's Dept and show them the chewed up box and how many pills were missing. I then had to show the police report to the VA Docs, to show proof that a few pills were missing. Due to the new DEA laws, those rules apply to us all. I don't think that anyone is out to attack your son. It just sounds to me that he needs help, and that is where you could step in. It took my dad 15 years to admit that my brother had a problem. Good Luck and God Bless!!!

[Navy04]

You play the argument game with the Urine, but you cant argue with the Blood Test positive for Drugs, you guys really need to address the issues.

[I won]

I agree he was wrong to smoke the marijuana. And yes he does have a problem however he does use the suboxone for pain management. This is the only medication he uses.. So I do have a problem with the way the VA handled this. A private Dr. would never kick someone off the program without providing detox. And the blood test he took has not been uploaded onto Ebenefits... That does not make sense... If he tested dirty right?

The VA needs to provide the same standard of care a private Dr. would provide.

This is a ongoing problem at Veterans sites that provide treatment for substance abuse.. I saw it first hand when he started in Los Angeles VA. They treated him and myself when I went with him like shit. They acted like they were doing him a favor and made things very difficult. I was able to push to get a outside Dr. to be paid for by VA. What a difference in care.

And remember all of you veterans who are taking narcotics for pain management there comes a time when you can cross over and become addicted to the medication. You may end up in this crappy program the VA is providing.. Everyone has the right to be treated with respect...