Mixing Buprenorphine (Suboxone) and Methamphetamine (meth)
Unsafe
Meth hides how much the opioid is slowing you, and when it fades, everything you redosed hits at once, often as you fall asleep. Avoid this combination. If you use anyway, do not use alone and keep naloxone nearby.
A stimulant masking opioid sedation is how people miss the point at which they are overdosing. Methamphetamine's long duration means the opioid is often redosed several times across it, and the accumulated load becomes unopposed as the stimulant fades — typically while falling asleep.
The risk here is to the body — breathing, heart, temperature or organs. Set limits before you start, because this kind of harm does not announce itself in time to react.
Headspace vs physical riskWhat to do
- Say what was taken and how much.Responders need it, and in most US states Good Samaritan laws protect both of you from drug possession charges when you call for an overdose.
- Unresponsive: put them on their side, tilt the head back, and stay until help arrives.Never leave someone alone to “sleep it off”.
- Give naloxone (Narcan) if you have it.It is sold over the counter in every US state and does no harm if opioids turn out not to be involved.
- Never Use Alone 1-800-484-3731Stays on the line and sends help if you stop responding.
- Full steps: what to do if it is already happeningOverdose signs, the recovery position, what to say on the call, and whether you can be charged for making it.
- Poison Control 1-800-222-1222Free and 24/7, for “is this bad?” before it becomes an emergency.
Can you mix Buprenorphine (Suboxone) and Methamphetamine (meth)?
MixSafe rates mixing Buprenorphine and Methamphetamine as "Unsafe" — risk of serious physical or psychological harm. Not recommended under any circumstances. No interaction specific to Buprenorphine and Methamphetamine is documented; this is the default for Opioids. Source: MixSafe research. Educational information, not medical advice.
This is a class-level answer, inherited from Opioids. Nothing specific to this exact pair is documented, so treat it as the default for the class rather than a measurement of these two drugs together.
- Buprenorphine
- Partial agonist — displaces other opioids off the receptor
- Methamphetamine
- Roughly twice as potent, and lasts three to four times as long
- Buprenorphine also called
- subutex, suboxone, bupe, bup, buprenorphine/naloxone, zubsolv
- Methamphetamine also called
- meth, crystal, crystal meth, ice, tina, shard
- The Main Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Methamphetamine-Induced Neurotoxicity and Implications for Pharmacological Treatment. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5994595/
- Neurobiology and Clinical Manifestations of Methamphetamine Neurotoxicity. Psychiatric Times. https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/neurobiology-and-clinical-manifestations-methamphetamine-neurotoxicity
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Open this in the checkerRelated combinations
All combinations →Rated unsafe. Educational information only, not medical advice. Absence of a documented interaction is not evidence of safety.