Medical Detoxification

Medically supervised detoxification is often necessary to manage the medical complications associated with chemical dependency. At Highline, detox is done on an inpatient basis where patients can be monitored by nurses during the withdrawal process. An addictionologist (a physician who specializes in addiction medicine) leads a team of professionals, including nurses and counselors, in providing treatment to patients during the detoxification process.

Our goal is to provide a safe medical detoxification for people. Our average length of stay in detox is 1-4 days. The substances we generally detox people from are:

Alcohol For alcohol withdrawal, we taper the individual using sedatives, such as Valium, Ativan or Librium.

Opiates [including Heroin, Methadone (we detox Methadone up to 30mg), Oxycontin, Codeine, Demerol, Vicodin, Percocet, etc.] For opiate withdrawal, we taper the individual using Suboxone for a minimum of four days. Our results show that Suboxone does an excellent job with managing opiate withdrawal symptoms, allowing each patient more freedom to focus on recovery instead of the discomfort of withdrawal.

Sedatives (including Klonopin, Xanax, Valium, Ativan, Librium, etc.). For sedative withdrawal, we begin tapering the individual from their current sedative dose. Sedative withdrawal can be a lengthy process.

For the following substances: Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Marijuana, Hallucinogens, Club Drugs, etc., we provide detoxification based on medical necessity and if detoxification is not required, the patient may instead be admitted to our Inpatient Stabilization or Intensive Outpatient Treatment Programs.