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VERITAS your replacing a high with a high ... even when that buprenorphine takes the rear naked choke off his receptors he's going in full blown withdrawal and he will still be chasing that high ... that's how he got in this situation .. suboxone was marked as a miracle drug when its a substitute, its a better alternative to heroin or massive amounts of opiates in general but its still abused like them
His best bet if available is a supervised but progressive taper from what I'm guessing he was taking 16mg a day which is a crazy high dose to stay on for a prolonged period... and some serious counseling ... if je could get down to 2mg a day or every other day the withdrawal symptoms are much more manageable with meds that won't give you that euphoric effect ... maybe a little ativan and some clonodine a blood pressure med with proven positive effects for withdrawal symptoms
Dudes body needs time to recover his cns is gonna be out of wack for awhile, his liver probably needs a good rejuvenation period as well ... and mentally that recovery could take years if ever
Other options are going to a rehab facility filled with other junkies who all want tk find a way to sneak a fix in , even more progressive would be a medically induced coma in a hospital with a detox wing