Nationally, methadone is submitted to drug labs far more often than buprenorphine, Drug Enforcement Administration data show. But bupe submissions are increasing at a faster rate - 114 percent from 2006 to 2007. Methadone increased 7 percent.
Senior Baltimore city and county police officials say they are not alarmed by buprenorphine seizures, but officers on the street are increasingly seeing bupe.
Baltimore County's lab processed 21 cases from January to March. The city drug lab logged 58 cases by mid-March.
"It's on its way. It's the up-and-coming black market drug," said Baltimore County narcotics Detective Patrick Covahey.
Officials in other parts of the nation - especially New England - said last year that addicts abuse Suboxone to get high or to avoid withdrawal until they use heroin again. The April 1 drug bust in Wise County, Va., is one of a growing number of such cases.
All seven of the suspected dealers were selling pills obtained by prescription, said Richard Stallard, director of the Southwest Virginia Drug Task Force. His region was among the first to see widespread OxyContin abuse, and officials fear Suboxone may be following that pattern.
"I describe the oncoming of Suboxone as the same as with OxyContin," Stallard said. "OxyContin started with something you heard a little bit about selling at a high price, then you heard a dramatic increase of the amount being trafficked."
doug.donovan@baltsun.com fred.schulte@baltsun.com
