Columbia Suboxone Clinic Blog
Is Suboxone a Narcotic? Understanding How Suboxone Works
If you are wondering, “Is Suboxone a narcotic?”, the short answer is yes under federal drug laws. Suboxone contains buprenorphine, an opioid medication in Schedule III of the federal drug schedule. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) also lists buprenorphine as a narcotic.
But that answer needs some context. Suboxone does not work exactly like heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone, or other full opioid agonists. Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist. It activates opioid receptors, but not as strongly as full opioid agonists do. When prescribed for opioid use disorder, it can reduce withdrawal symptoms and cravings.
That difference matters. The word narcotic alone doesn’t explain how Suboxone works or why healthcare providers use it for treatment.
Is Suboxone an Opioid?
Yes. Suboxone contains an opioid medication.
Suboxone has two active ingredients:
- Buprenorphine, a partial opioid agonist
- Naloxone, an opioid antagonist
Buprenorphine binds tightly to opioid receptors in the brain. However, it activates those receptors less strongly than full opioid agonists such as heroin and many prescription opioids.
That difference is one reason healthcare providers use buprenorphine to treat opioid use disorder. You can learn more in RCC’s guide to Suboxone treatment for opioid addiction.
What Does “Narcotic” Mean?
The word narcotic can be confusing because people use it in different ways.
In everyday conversation, someone might use narcotic to mean:
- An opioid
- A strong prescription pain medication
- An illegal opioid
- A drug that causes sleepiness or intoxication
Those meanings aren’t always exact.
Under federal drug laws, the DEA lists buprenorphine as a Schedule III narcotic.
For patients, opioid is often a more useful term because it helps explain how a drug acts on opioid receptors.
So, yes: Suboxone contains an opioid that federal law treats as a controlled narcotic medication. That does not mean Suboxone has the same effects, risks, or purpose as every other opioid.
Is Suboxone a Controlled Substance?
Yes. Suboxone is a Schedule III controlled substance because it contains buprenorphine.
Federal law divides controlled drugs into schedules. A drug’s medical use and its risk of misuse or dependence are among the factors used to place it in a schedule.
Being a controlled substance does not mean a medication has no valid medical use. Healthcare providers prescribe buprenorphine because it has an established role in treating opioid use disorder.
What Drug Schedule Is Suboxone?
Suboxone is a Schedule III controlled substance under federal law.
Many full opioid agonists fall under Schedule II instead.
A drug’s schedule is a legal category. It is not a simple rating of whether a medication is “good,” “bad,” “safe,” or “dangerous.”
For someone thinking about treatment, a more useful question is how buprenorphine works and why a healthcare provider might prescribe it for opioid use disorder.
How Does Buprenorphine Work?
Buprenorphine is a partial agonist at the mu-opioid receptor.
A simple way to understand that term is to compare full and partial opioid agonists.
Full Opioid Agonists
Full opioid agonists strongly activate opioid receptors.
Examples include heroin and opioid medications such as oxycodone and morphine. Their effects can include pain relief, euphoria, sleepiness, and slowed breathing.
Buprenorphine as a Partial Opioid Agonist
Buprenorphine also attaches to opioid receptors, but it does not activate them as strongly as a full opioid agonist.
According to the FDA, buprenorphine can help:
- Reduce opioid withdrawal symptoms
- Reduce opioid cravings
- Produce weaker opioid effects than full opioid agonists
- Support treatment for opioid use disorder
Serious breathing problems and overdose can still happen, especially when someone takes buprenorphine with other drugs that slow breathing.
Buprenorphine also binds tightly to opioid receptors. This means it can compete with other opioids for those receptors.
These features help explain why prescribed buprenorphine treatment differs from uncontrolled opioid use.
Why Use an Opioid to Treat Opioid Use Disorder?
If buprenorphine is an opioid, why would a healthcare provider give it to someone who wants to stop harmful opioid use?
The answer comes down to how buprenorphine works.
Someone who has become physically dependent on opioids may have strong withdrawal symptoms and cravings when opioid use stops. Buprenorphine can occupy opioid receptors and ease those symptoms without activating the receptors as strongly as a full opioid agonist.
This can give a patient more stability while receiving treatment.
In other words, taking a prescribed medication for opioid use disorder is not the same as continuing uncontrolled opioid use.
How Does Suboxone Help With Opioid Withdrawal?
Someone who has become physically dependent on opioids may develop withdrawal symptoms after reducing or stopping them.
Common symptoms can include:
- Anxiety or restlessness
- Muscle aches
- Sweating
- Runny nose
- Nausea or vomiting
- Stomach discomfort
- Diarrhea
- Trouble sleeping
- Strong opioid cravings
Buprenorphine can activate opioid receptors enough to ease withdrawal symptoms and cravings while causing weaker opioid effects than full agonists.
RCC explains this process in more detail in how Suboxone can help with opioid withdrawal and cravings.
Timing matters when starting buprenorphine. Starting it too soon after certain opioids can cause precipitated withdrawal. RCC’s guide to understanding and avoiding precipitated withdrawal explains why this can happen.
The right timing can vary based on the opioid a person has been using and other personal factors. Patients should follow instructions from a healthcare provider who knows how to start buprenorphine treatment.
What Does Naloxone Do in Suboxone?
Suboxone contains buprenorphine and naloxone.
Naloxone is an opioid antagonist. Instead of activating opioid receptors, it blocks them.
Suboxone includes naloxone mainly to discourage certain types of misuse. When someone takes Suboxone as directed, buprenorphine provides the main treatment effect.
The naloxone in Suboxone is the same drug used in emergency naloxone products for opioid overdose. However, its use and purpose in Suboxone are different.
Does Suboxone Cause a High?
Buprenorphine can cause opioid effects, including euphoria. This may be more noticeable in someone who does not already have opioid tolerance.
However, buprenorphine does not act like a full opioid agonist. As a partial agonist, it generally produces weaker opioid effects than drugs such as heroin.
When someone takes the prescribed dose for opioid use disorder, the goal is not intoxication. The goal is to control withdrawal and cravings and help the patient stay stable.
Suboxone can still be misused. That is one reason buprenorphine remains a controlled substance.
Can You Become Physically Dependent on Suboxone?
Yes. Regular use of buprenorphine can cause physical dependence.
Physical dependence means the body has adjusted to a medication. If someone suddenly stops the medication or greatly lowers the dose, withdrawal symptoms can occur.
Physical dependence and addiction are not the same thing.
Dependence vs. Addiction
People can become physically dependent on many medications they take regularly.
Addiction involves harmful or hard-to-control drug use. It can include trouble controlling use and continuing to use a drug despite harmful effects.
A person who takes buprenorphine as prescribed can become physically dependent on it without becoming addicted to it.
Patients should talk with their healthcare provider before stopping Suboxone or changing their dose.
Is Suboxone the Same as Other Narcotics?
No. Calling several drugs opioids or narcotics does not mean they all work the same way.
Buprenorphine differs from many full opioid agonists because it is a partial opioid agonist and binds tightly to opioid receptors.
Those features affect:
- How strongly it activates opioid receptors
- How it helps with withdrawal and cravings
- How it interacts with other opioids
- Its overdose risks
- How healthcare providers use it
So, asking whether Suboxone is a narcotic tells only part of the story.
A more useful question is: How does this opioid medication work when a healthcare provider prescribes it for opioid use disorder?
Is Buprenorphine a Narcotic?
Yes. Under federal drug laws, buprenorphine is a Schedule III narcotic.
Healthcare providers more often describe buprenorphine as a partial opioid agonist when explaining how it works.
That term gives patients more useful information about what the medication actually does.
Can Suboxone Be Misused?
Yes. Suboxone can be misused.
Buprenorphine produces opioid effects, so patients should take it only as prescribed.
Patients should not:
- Take more than prescribed
- Give or sell it to someone else
- Mix it with other medications or drugs without asking a healthcare provider about possible risks
- Stop treatment suddenly without medical guidance
Patients should also store Suboxone safely and keep it away from children and anyone for whom it was not prescribed.
Can Suboxone Cause an Overdose?
Yes. Buprenorphine can cause serious breathing problems and overdose.
The risk can rise when someone takes buprenorphine with alcohol, benzodiazepines, sedatives, or other drugs that slow breathing.
The FDA prescribing information for Suboxone provides more safety information about buprenorphine and naloxone.
Patients should tell their healthcare provider about the medications, supplements, alcohol, and other drugs they use. This helps the provider check for drug interactions.
Does Taking Suboxone Mean Someone Is “Still Using Opioids”?
Suboxone contains an opioid, so someone who takes Suboxone is taking an opioid medication.
But that fact alone can give the wrong impression.
Taking prescribed medication for opioid use disorder under medical care is different from uncontrolled or compulsive opioid use. Buprenorphine treatment aims to reduce withdrawal and cravings and help a person stay stable.
Some patients stay on buprenorphine for a long time. There is no single deadline that applies to everyone.
How Long Should Someone Stay on Suboxone?
There is no single treatment length that is right for everyone.
Some people take buprenorphine for long periods when they and their healthcare provider decide that continued treatment makes sense.
Several factors can affect that decision, including:
- Current cravings and withdrawal symptoms
- Stability in recovery
- Other drug use
- Past return to opioid use
- Response to the medication
- Side effects
- Physical and mental health
- Personal needs
- The healthcare provider’s assessment
Because physical dependence can occur, patients should talk with their healthcare provider before reducing or stopping Suboxone.
Why the Language Around Suboxone Matters
Words such as narcotic, opioid, dependence, and addiction do not all mean the same thing.
Mixing up these terms can cause confusion about medications for opioid use disorder.
For example, someone may hear that Suboxone contains an opioid and assume that treatment simply replaces one harmful drug with another. That misses key differences in how buprenorphine works, how patients take it, and why healthcare providers prescribe it.
Buprenorphine’s partial opioid effects can reduce withdrawal and cravings while helping patients stay stable during treatment.
Understanding what the medication does gives a clearer picture than the word narcotic alone.
Frequently Asked Questions About Suboxone and Narcotics
Is Suboxone a narcotic?
Yes. Suboxone contains buprenorphine. Federal law places buprenorphine in Schedule III, and the DEA lists it as a narcotic. Healthcare providers more often describe buprenorphine as a partial opioid agonist when explaining how it works.
Is Suboxone an opioid?
Yes. The buprenorphine in Suboxone is an opioid. It is a partial opioid agonist, so it activates opioid receptors less strongly than full opioid agonists.
Is Suboxone a controlled substance?
Yes. Suboxone is a Schedule III controlled substance because it contains buprenorphine.
What schedule is Suboxone?
Suboxone is a Schedule III controlled substance under federal law.
Is buprenorphine a narcotic?
Yes, under federal drug laws. The DEA lists buprenorphine as a Schedule III narcotic. The term partial opioid agonist gives more useful information about how the drug works.
Why does Suboxone contain an opioid if it treats opioid use disorder?
Buprenorphine only partly activates opioid receptors. When prescribed for treatment, it can reduce opioid withdrawal and cravings while causing weaker opioid effects than full agonists.
What does naloxone do in Suboxone?
Naloxone is an opioid antagonist. Suboxone includes it mainly to discourage certain types of misuse.
Can Suboxone cause physical dependence?
Yes. A person can become physically dependent on buprenorphine. Patients should talk with their healthcare provider before reducing or stopping it.
Is physical dependence on Suboxone the same as addiction?
No. Physical dependence and addiction are different. Physical dependence happens when the body adjusts to regular medication use. Addiction involves harmful or hard-to-control drug use. A person can become physically dependent on a prescribed medication without becoming addicted to it.
Does Suboxone get you high?
Buprenorphine can cause opioid effects and may cause euphoria, especially in someone without opioid tolerance. However, it is a partial opioid agonist and generally causes weaker opioid effects than full agonists. During treatment, the goal is to control withdrawal and cravings rather than cause intoxication.
Does Suboxone help opioid cravings?
Yes. Healthcare providers use buprenorphine in part because it can reduce opioid cravings.
Can you overdose on Suboxone?
Yes. Suboxone can cause serious breathing problems and overdose. The risk can rise when someone takes buprenorphine with alcohol, benzodiazepines, sedatives, or other drugs that slow breathing.
The Bottom Line: Is Suboxone a Narcotic?
Yes. Suboxone contains buprenorphine, an opioid in Schedule III that the DEA lists as a narcotic. But that label doesn’t fully explain how Suboxone works or why healthcare providers use it to treat opioid use disorder.
Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist. It binds tightly to opioid receptors but activates them less strongly than full opioid agonists. When prescribed for treatment, it can reduce opioid withdrawal and cravings and help patients stay stable.
Suboxone also contains naloxone, an opioid antagonist added mainly to discourage certain types of misuse.
If you’re thinking about treatment, the most useful question isn’t simply whether Suboxone is a narcotic. A healthcare provider can help decide whether buprenorphine may be right for you based on your health, opioid use, other medications, and treatment goals.
Recovery Care of Columbia provides online Suboxone treatment for Tennessee residents. If you’d like to ask about treatment before registering, call or text us today at (931) 548-3062.
Request an Appointment Online
Request an appointment online from your phone:
- Register with TennCare Medicaid — typically $0 out-of-pocket
- Register with UHC Medicare Advantage
- Register with commercial insurance
- Register as a Self-Pay Patient
- Apply for our sliding-scale program
- Returning patients — restart treatment
A licensed healthcare provider will decide whether Suboxone is right for your treatment needs.
Prefer to speak with someone first? Call or text us today at (931) 548-3062, or send us a secure message in the Spruce Health mobile app.