Singerman said it (Nubain) was one of the weakest drugs he used.
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Just because it was handy, here's one of the last articles Duchaine wrote on it for the old QFAC site -
Help For The Junior Junkies - by Dan Duchaine
Nubain is the Dupont trade name for nalbuphine hydrochloride, a clear injectable liquid with analgesic effects equivalent to morphine on a milligram by milligram basis. Although it is a prescription drug in the US, it is not specially scheduled by the FDA. For this reason, Nubain is generally available and reasonably priced on the sports black market.
I think that it’s safe to say that Nubain use (or abuse) seems to be a problem only in the bodybuilding and powerlifting subculture. I can say with authority that a substantial number of the top-placing competitors in any national or international bodybuilding contest are using Nubain. In some years, eight out of the top ten competitors in the Mr. Olympia contest use this drug.
Although Nubain users don’t fit the typical drug user profile, Nubain use is definitely a problem within the “fitness” subculture. Although the health problems caused by Nubain are not immediately apparent, Nubain users do suffer from withdrawal symptoms if they stop taking their drug of choice. Nubain withdrawal resembles a bad case of the flu. Symptoms include fever, tiredness, body ache, diarrhea, sneezing, and anxiety. Some ex-users experience even more severe symptoms, which we’ll discuss shortly.
Why did bodybuilders and powerlifters, supposedly the epitome of health and strength, start taking Nubain in the first place? The answer goes back almost two decades. In 1984, many major steroid dealers had been arrested, and most of the black market was being serviced out of Santa Clara, California by a man named Steven Coons, who was also the front man for the so-called “designer steroids” made by Jeff Feliciano. Coons touted the sedative, pain-killing, appetite-suppressing, diuretic, and euphoric properties of Nubain. He said that Nubain would help bodybuilders to endure the pain of extreme workouts, and he put a bottle of Nubain into many of the steroid orders that he was shipping nationwide. Like many Nubain users, I was a very “clean and sober” person when I first tried it in 1985. I didn’t smoke, consume alcohol, or take recreational drugs. Nubain was supposed to be totally harmless, and even beneficial.
Nubain can be injected in three ways: intramuscularly, subcutaneously, and intravenously. Because the intravenous route does not cause a stinging sensation, most Nubain users eventually switch to IV injections. Bodybuilders and powerlifters who are used to injecting steroids, unlike the general population, are accustomed to needles and injections, so IV Nubain use is not that big of a jump. Perhaps the stigma of IV drug use is the reason that Nubain addiction has stayed in this subculture and not spread to the general population---unlike GHB, which began as a bodybuilding and longevity drug, and was later adopted by reckless teenagers.
The wholesale price for 10 cc of generic, 20 mg/ml nalbuphine, made by Astra or Abbot, is about $15. The retail price of Nubain, over the counter in Tijuana, is about $35. In Mexico, all nalbuphines are prescription drugs, and Mexican-made Nubain is only available in a 10 mg/ml dose. However, most Tijuana pharmacies buy 20 mg/ml of Astra nalbuphine from San Diego wholesalers and smuggle it in to Mexico.
Although Nubain is not specially scheduled by the FDA, the dosing patterns of Nubain users indicate that it is a powerfully addictive drug. Users typically inject between 10 mg to 20 mg every two to four hours. A Nubain habit can be very expensive. Some users go through a whole 10 cc bottle every day---about $250 a week! And that’s in Southern California, where Nubain is relatively cheap. In some areas of the country, such as New Jersey, the retail black market price is close to $100 a bottle.
Intravenous drug users tend to favor certain injection sites. After months of consistent injections, the skin in this area becomes scarred, leaving “track marks” like those of heroin addicts. Some Nubain users routinely have a cosmetic surgeon cut out the track marks, because the scars from cosmetic surgery are less noticeable than the scars from the drug injections. A few bodybuilders use Stadol or Torbugesic instead of Nubain. Both Stadol (butorphanol tartrate) and Torbugesic (the veterinary version of Stadol) are about ten times stronger than Nubain. Two mg/cc of Stadol has the same effect of 20 mg/cc of Nubain! Although they are not scheduled by the FDA, these two drugs are more difficult to find on the black market than Nubain.
Researchers have shown that Stadol has greater effects on women than men. When I read about this effect, I postulated that women would have greater withdrawal symptoms coming off Nubain. I have found this to be true. Women definitely have more severe withdrawal symptoms than men. Of course, there are always “junior junkies” who grovel, beg, and drive hundreds of miles to avoid a Nubain withdrawal. Personally, I think that they are acting like big babies. I’m afraid that I may have had a part in encouraging these “junior junkies” to use Nubain. Because I’ve never had problems with withdrawal symptoms---or because I was too proud to show any weakness to my friends and relatives---I didn’t present the worst problems caused by Nubain addiction. To repair any damage I may have caused by my cavalier way of dispensing information about Nubain, I’m going to tell you how to get off Nubain (or Stadol) with absolutely no withdrawal symptoms.
First, a little science. Narcotic drugs attach to one or more of the three opiate receptors (delta, kappa, and mu). The most potent of these analgesics hit all three receptors, while Nubain primarily binds at the kappa receptor, and has a mixed agonist/antagonist action at the delta receptor.
The first step is to break the habit of intravenous injection. Many habitual Nubain users find it pleasurable to inject the drug. It’s a comfortable ritual that Nubain users miss in the same way that ex-smokers miss the whole ceremony of lighting up and inhaling a cigarette. What we need to take the place of Nubain is a non-scheduled oral analgesic.
Our prime candidate is tramadol hydrochloride, known in America as Ultram, which comes in a 50 mg tablet. It is also available in 50 mg capsules in Mexico as TRADOL, and costs about $20 for ten capsules. NOBLIGAN, another version of tramadol, is a real buy at $10 for ten capsules if you can find it. It was when Oliver Star and I previously discussed withdrawal protocols, when he mentioned that he had found an oral sedative to replace Nubain, the Ultram.
To start the process of withdrawal without symptoms, immediately stop using all Nubain, and start taking 50 mg of tramadol, three times a day. Tramadol only binds at the delta receptor, so it makes Nubain withdrawal much easier. You won’t feel any euphoria, but you also won’t feel the flu-like symptoms of an unassisted withdrawal. For the first week, take three 50 mg doses of tramadol a day. For the second week, take two per day, and take only one per day during the last week. After three weeks, you will feel relatively normal. The only side effects that may linger are sneezing or coughing, and perhaps a slight feeling of tiredness.
Tramadol is not strong enough for some female Nubain users. They need a stronger oral analgesic before they progress to tramadol. The best choice is TEMGESIC (buprenophine hydrochloride) sublingual tablets from Mexico. (Although there is an injectable version in the US called BUPRENEX, you want to avoid injectable compounds.) Temgesic is Schedule V in the US and prescription-only in Mexico. Unfortunately, it’s not cheap---about $25 for ten tablets in Tijuana pharmacies.
After complete Nubain cessation, women should use only one Temgesic sublingual (each tab contains .2 mg). Temgesic binds at the delta receptor for a very long time, which makes it effective for up to up to 24 hours. Use the Temgesic once daily for a week, and then switch to the tramadol protocol.
Is Nubain addiction a big problem? Well, compared to cocaine, marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol---in a word, no. More people are addicted to and die from the effects of these drugs than have even heard of Nubain. However, for the small corps of overly dependent Nubain users, I hope that this protocol will help to break the habit without unnecessary suffering.
Do we have a subculture Nubain problem, and should we do something about it? I believe that the problem is relatively minor. Nubain, from a medical standpoint, is pretty much inoffensive, other than the stigma of injectable drug use. Unfortunately, illustrating the problem in the media will probably rise too much interest, and we would end up with more people experimenting with Nubain, spreading it out of the subculture. There is a small core of Nubain users who are overly dependent on this drug, and we could debate the morality of such recreational drug use. It certainly is safer than marijuana, cocaine, tobacco and alcohol. Now that I have developed this Nubain withdrawal protocol, I’m hoping that all those who want to break the Nubain habit, can now do so with no suffering.
