Fentanyl Addiction Treatment

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid many times more potent than heroin, and its potency is what makes it different in practice. Doses that matter are small enough that mixing is uneven, so two pills from the same batch can differ. That is why overdoses happen to experienced users who did nothing differently.

Golden Coast Rehab treats fentanyl use disorder in adults across San Diego County on an outpatient basis. Many people we see did not set out to use fentanyl at all — they were using pills, and the pills contained it.

If you use, carry naloxone, do not use alone, and treat every unknown pill as potentially lethal. Those three things keep people alive long enough to get to treatment.

How fentanyl use disorder is treated here

Golden Coast Rehab holds California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) substance use disorder certification 370254AP for outpatient detoxification, outpatient, intensive outpatient, and medication-assisted treatment. We do not provide residential or inpatient treatment, and there is no substance use partial hospitalization program here — partial hospitalization at Golden Coast Rehab is a specialty mental health service under our County of San Diego contract.

Outpatient detox

Withdrawal from fentanyl can come on fast and hard, and because fentanyl behaves differently in the body than other opioids, starting medication requires care and timing. That is a clinical conversation, not something to improvise. The assessment determines whether outpatient withdrawal management is safe for you.

Medication-assisted treatment

Medication is the central treatment for fentanyl use disorder and the intervention with the clearest effect on overdose death. Because of how fentanyl accumulates in body tissue, the timing of starting medication needs clinical management — another reason not to attempt this alone.

Intensive outpatient program

The core of treatment: several sessions a week of group and individual therapy while you live at home and, in most cases, keep working. This is where the actual work on triggers, craving, and the life around the using happens.

Outpatient program

A lighter weekly schedule that follows intensive outpatient and keeps the clinical relationship intact through the first year, when relapse risk is highest.

When a mental health condition is also present

Depression, anxiety, trauma, and bipolar disorder frequently sit alongside a substance use disorder, and treating only one of them is the most reliable way to end up back where you started. Both are treated here by one clinical team — see dual diagnosis, or the same care framed from the mental health side on co-occurring disorders.

Coverage and cost

Substance use treatment for Medi-Cal beneficiaries in San Diego County runs through the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System, administered by San Diego County Behavioral Health Services rather than by your managed care plan. If you have Medi-Cal in the county — any of the four plans — and you meet criteria, care here can be covered at no cost to you. See how Medi-Cal works here.

Call (858) 925-8589, answered 24 hours a day. In a crisis, the San Diego County Access and Crisis Line is available around the clock at 1-888-724-7240.