"We're the number one per capita prescriber of this drug and we have no clue how much is out there," he said.
Dr. Margaret Greenwald, Maine's chief medical examiner, wants to routinely test for buprenorphine. But she said the $200 cost per buprenorphine screen is prohibitive.
She said two men have died over the past two years of overdoses caused by mixing illegally obtained buprenorphine with other substances. One man, Donald Morin, died on Feb. 16, 2006, after mixing buprenorphine with the tranquilizer Xanax and cocaine. Suboxone pills were found in his pocket, which led to the test, she said. Another man died July 21, 2007, of an overdose caused by mixing buprenorphine with alcohol and two antidepressants, she said.
