Can I Take Suboxone 24 Hours after Methadone?4 min read

You may be required to take a drug test as part of your probation, or you may need to take one in order to get into a sober housing or treatment program. Either way, you probably don’t want to fail the test and have that result show up on your resume, your record, or in any other type of background check.

Everyone knows that substances remain in your system for a certain period of time after taking them. The trick is knowing exactly how long drugs remain in your system so you can plan accordingly if you need to take a drug test.

In this article, we’ll go over everything you need to know about how long drugs stay in your system and how long after taking methadone can you take suboxone and still pass the test.

How Long Do Drugs Stay in Your System?

If you’re wondering how long drugs stay in your system, you’ve probably heard a number thrown around. You might have even come across claims that drugs only stay in your system for a few hours.

The truth, however, is that the length of time that drugs stay in your system depends on a number of factors, including the type of drug, how often you use it, and your metabolism.

If you’re wondering how long a specific drug stays in your system, you can look up the drug on Drugs.com. The Drug Information database includes information on how long drugs stay in your system.

That being said, there are two important things to keep in mind when reading about how long drugs stay in your system.

First, the information you find on Drugs.com is just an average. It’s likely that the numbers you find will not exactly match up with the results of your specific drug test.

Methadone

Methadone is a synthetic opioid that’s used as a pain reliever and a substitute for other opioids in the treatment of opioid addiction. Methadone is a long-acting opioid that stays in your system much longer than most other drugs.

Most people who use methadone once a day will test positive for at least five days. Many people will test positive for 10 or 14 days.
People who take methadone twice a day will likely test positive for eight or 12 days.

What to Expect When Taking Suboxone

Suboxone is a medication used for detox and maintenance treatment for opioid addiction. It’s a combination of two drugs: buprenorphine and naloxone.

Buprenorphine is a long-acting opioid. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that makes buprenorphine less potent.

When taking suboxone, you’ll be prescribed a certain amount of buprenorphine to treat any opioid cravings and maintain your sobriety.

Suboxone will likely be detectable in your system for at least two days and as many as five days.

There’s no data on how long naloxone will be detectable in your system.

How Long Does Methadone Stay in Your System?

As we mentioned above, most people who take methadone once a day will test positive for at least five days.

If you take methadone twice a day, you’ll likely test positive for eight or 12 days.
Some people may test positive for as long as 30 days after taking methadone.

Bottom line: Can you take suboxone 24 hours after methadone?

You can definitely take suboxone after taking methadone. The problem is, methadone stays in your system for much longer than suboxone.

Methadone can stay in your system for as long as 30 days. Suboxone, on the other hand, only stays in your system for two to five days.

That leaves you with very little time to take the suboxone and have it be detectable on a drug test.

If you’re wondering how long after taking methadone can you take suboxone and still pass the test, you’re looking at a very short window. You’re probably looking at taking suboxone the day after taking methadone.

Short-acting opiates like heroin and morphine

Short-acting opiates like heroin and morphine are only detectable in your system for a few hours.

Morphine is detectable for about six hours, and heroin is detectable for about two hours.
Those who take short-acting opiates more than once a day will likely test positive for 24 hours.

You’d need to take short-acting opiates the day before the drug test in order to pass.

Long-acting opiates are detectable in your system for one to two weeks. That means you’d need to take them 21 or 42 days before the drug test in order to pass.

Conclusion

As you can see, the length of time that drugs stay in your system is incredibly important when it comes to taking a drug test. You need to know exactly when the drugs will be out of your system so you can plan accordingly.

You know that if you take methadone once a day, it will be detectable in your system for at least five days.

You also know that if you take suboxone after taking methadone, you only have a short window to pass the drug test.

Knowing this information can help you avoid the stress of worrying about failing a drug test.