Acquaintance with a Subutex addict
Subutex is a word highly covered by Mauritian media these days. Just for info, it is sold as a pill and its main purpose is to prevent withdrawal symptoms from occurring in an individual by reducing or removing the desire to take drugs like heroin and methadone.
OK, I am not writing another common blog post about Subutex (you can easily google for them).
It’s been almost a year now since I was searching for someone to do some work at my place. One day, I happen to meet that guy who is willing to do the work at a competitive price. I already knew a bit about the guy’s background and I agreed to give him the work.
Day 1, he came to work at 11h and after working for 30 minutes, he asked me an advance pay of Rs300. I must admit that I was a bit surprised since he did not even work half day. I gave him the money and he went on a lunch break (after working for 30 minutes!). I did not ask him what he’s gonna do with it.
Day 2, he came a bit earlier, at 8h. He looked really tired and could not talk much. He asked me an advance pay for the day and if I could drop him to some place. I said, wait, he did not even start working this time. I asked him what he is going to do with it. He did not reply. He told me that it would be quicker to go by car than walk.
We headed to a ghetto where he asked me to leave him on the road and to pick him back there, in 15 min. When he came back, that was a totally different person. Very strong, normal behaviour, no more tired! He worked till 20h that day.
I asked him what he took. He did not hesitate this time, he told me Subutex. He paid a visit to the dealer in the ghetto and bought 2 “bits” of Subutex. I did not know that Subutex pills were sold in bits. A pill is segmented into 8 exact bits. Each bit is sold at Rs150 (a pill Rs1200). He had to take 2 bits per day (sublingual) to feel “alright”.
I asked him why not go for the methadone governmental project to get rid of the addiction. He told me that he used to take heroin. When he went with Subutex, this removed the desire (“yen” in creole) to take heroin. But, now, he is stucked with Subutex. If he goes for methadone and if that did had an effect to remove desire for Subutex (if any…), he asked me, then what substance will remove the desire/yen of methadone?
He told me that he started taking drugs with friends while he was working at a hotel and now he needs to work to satisfy those desires. He can’t even contribute much to the household. He’s, also, married.
There are many prejudices about these people in the society. We must all realise that if we don’t give them work, they will surely end up by stealing or killing someone for money. We should not blame others and discharge our responsibility just by saying that we are not concerned by this. We can never say that our children will not be drug addicts one day!
