I have taken Subutex 8mg/2xdaily sublingually for almost 7 years now. It has always been prescribed by my primary care provider. I find it to have saved my life in many different ways, ranging from being an exceptional pain management drug, to keeping me from the dangerous and easy to lose-control-of opioid cycle. I understand this drug implicitly, and have studied it to the degree where I could probably publish a paper about it! What I don't understand are the laws governing who can prescribe this medicine....

As far as I can tell, as long as a doctor has clearance to prescribe schedule III or higher narcotics, and they are careful to indicate that it is being prescribed for PAIN ONLY and "off label" (which is perfectly legal as far as I can find), then they are not required to have special certification to do so. My doctor just had a "drug rep" tell him he was illegally Rx'ing the subutex to me and my doctor has now told me I have one month to get off of the drug. I asked about alternatives, and his answer was; "methadone, OxyContin, mscontin, etc", but most likely Methadone. I just need to know, once and for all, if a doctor in the US can legally prescribe sublinqual subutex "off label" without special certification as long as it is clearly indicated for "pain only". Please help! I am terrified of Methadone and other hard-core opioids!