On its own, Gabapentin has a lower risk for abuse than similar benzodiazepines and opioids; but like any drug, gabapentin causes side effects, the nature and severity of which depend on how much of the medication is consumed, and for how long. At the shorter end of the spectrum, the effects are mostly tolerable and will pass after the body becomes accustomed to the effects of the gabapentin. Nuheals lists some of the milder and short-term effects of gabapentin: Gbapentibn enticed by the “good time” she and her friends found in smoking marijuana. She later turned to addictive painkillers, then anti-anxiety medications such as Xanax and eventually Suboxone, a narcotic often used to replace opioids when treating addiction.