I was at Hazelden in 2012, and held the position of Director of Spiritual Guidance, one of several clinical directors in Center City, Minnesota. Hazelden was approached with a generous grant for research into the value of a new drug, Suboxone, for the treatment of heroin addiction. Suboxone was presented as the answer to heroin addiction because the death rate from heroin drops quickly among patients in the first year of use. There was, and still is, little research after the first year. Yes, Suboxone itself is addictive, the representative said, but people usually don’t die from using it. They recommended that we start opiate patients on Suboxone at Hazelden in Center City and then continue them afterwards where they live. For metropolitan area addicts, they suggested forming a Suboxone maintenance program in an outpatient program at our Fellowship Club location in Saint Paul, MN. The main selling point was the low death rate in year one. Besides, if Hazelden became a Suboxone dispensary, we would be making our outpatients “Customers For Life” because the protocols were to stay on Suboxone for a lifetime. I had some reluctance.

Shifting Focus Away from the Twelve Steps

I was reluctant because the whole focus Hazelden’s treatment program shifted from the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to medication management and mental health counseling. It was obvious that I was not on board with the changes. My pushback was mostly indirect…not directly against Suboxone but trying to hold the line against reductions in Twelve Step programming, fewer groups and fewer lectured on the Steps and more emphasis on medications. Patients were talking less and less about the Big Book and more about their milligrams: “How many milligrams did you get” of this drug and that drug. Lectures had less about spiritual awakenings and more about the benefits of medication. I argued that advice on medication should be given out on an individual basis, not wholesale. It was obvious that I was “not a team player.” Eventually I was demoted. I held my job title, but in name only. I was reporting to a supervisor who had previously been reporting to me. She was sympathetic, but powerless. My salary was cut by 1/3 and my office was moved to a remote corridor, away from the management corridor. My new supervisor, who was also a friend, asked me to stay on for six months to complete a set of internships that she didn’t want to do, and I did that for her. Then I quit in 2014. I didn’t ask for severance, because I knew there wouldn’t be any. I just gave two weeks notice and left. I was very happy that The Retreat gave me a job as a Spiritual Care Consultant, and I resumed a real Twelve Step ministry and practice.

The Reality of Suboxone Marketing

In 2026, Suboxone doesn’t need much marketing. It is well established in the treatment field, and those who prescribe it do have “customers for life.” No one has ever done research that shows that its use leads to lasting sobriety. Now, the manufacturer has been charged with civil and criminal charges for illegal marketing of Suboxone. Top executives could have gone to prison. However, there is a settlement, the largest ever. Why would Reckitt Benckiser pay One Billion, 400 Million dollars, the largest civil penalty ever, voluntarily? Because the US Government dropped criminal charges. No one now has to go to prison for illegal marketing, also known as lying. How can they afford it? Only if the profits are much more than that. The biggest corrupt opiate company before them, Perdue Pharma, paid less than half as much, $600 million.

Finding Grounding in Real Recovery

It turns out that what that sales rep said is true, Suboxone makes people customers for life. Now they hardly need to market it at all. What is missing from this story is any evidence that people taking this drug end up clean and sober. I’m so glad that the Retreat found a place for me in 2014. At the Retreat, we have the Big Book, a sober fellowship, and a Higher Power. That’s all I’ve ever needed living clean and sober for 37 years.