There might be no issue more challenging in Baltimore than the social and economic devastation wrought by the city's drug epidemic. So it's not surprising that the recent arrival of buprenorphine, a drug designed to help wean addicts from heroin, was greeted with excitement and hope.
But the increasing number of prescriptions written by doctors has come with dangerous side effects. A months-long investigation by Sun reporters Fred Schulte, Doug Donovan and Erika Niedowski about the use of "bupe," as it is called on the street, revealed some disturbing social trends.
The series showed that bupe, primarily prescribed in a form called Suboxone, is being abused here and elsewhere around the world, much like the drugs it was designed to replace. In "The `Bupe' Fix," a three-part series that began last Sunday, the Sun reporters produced a cautionary tale about what has been hailed as a wonder drug.
The series did note the experiences of addiction experts and addicts themselves, which showed that bupe is very effective in alleviating cravings for heroin and pain pills like OxyContin, and for preventing the sickness of drug withdrawal. But the reporters also found considerable evidence of the drugs' abuse.
The series raised the question of whether government and health care agencies have failed to recognize the extent of bupe's misuse. Assistant Managing Editor John Fairhall, who supervised the series, said: "It was not an attack on the drug. The series was designed to examine the way the government is making it available, with few restrictions, and the consequences of this approach."
Nonetheless, the articles sparked a crossfire of comment and controversy on the newspaper's Web site and in e-mails sent to the newsroom. Critics said the series was one-sided because it failed to give enough credit to Suboxone's benefits in fighting heroin addiction.
