Opioid receptor agonist for use in a detoxification treatment to reduce the concentration of a chemical or drug substance in the blood plasma of an individual who has developed a physical dependence for the chemical or drug substance where the detoxification treatment includes providing an initial dosing regimen of the opioid receptor agonist that is the chemical or drug substance causing the physical dependence or a stabilizing concentration of a replacement chemical or drug substance, titrating an initial peak concentration of the opioid receptor agonist in the blood plasma of the individual for a predefined dosing period, titrating a lowest concentration level of the opioid receptor agonist in the blood plasma of the individual immediately before the end of the predefined dosing period, and providing a plurality of subsequent doses of the opioid receptor agonist for a plurality of subsequent dosing periods wherein each subsequent dosing period requires administering a dosing amount of the opioid receptor agonist and titrating the peak concentration and the lowest concentration level for the dosing period to ensure that the lowest concentration level of the opioid receptor agonist in the blood plasma for the subsequent dosing period is decreased by not more than five percent of the lowest concentration level of the opioid receptor agonist of the previous dosing period and wherein the plurality of dosing periods added together is sixty days or more.
