Part 1: The 'bupe' fix

Promoted by the U.S. as a treatment for opiate addiction, buprenorphine has become one more item for sale in the illegal drug market.

Part 2: Success, setbacks in France

France's model for encouraging private doctors to treat opiate addicts with buprenorphine holds lessons for the United States.

• In Mauritius, smuggled buprenorphine causes problems


Part 3: Not a cure-all

Lawmakers gave doctors and patients little more than a pill when they launched buprenorphine treatment. But addicts and the people who help them have found that more is needed.

• Drug earning millions despite 'orphan' label

  
A little-known narcotic is showing up on the streets after the government spent millions to make it the centerpiece of a plan to treat opiate addicts. Nicknamed "bupe," the drug holds great promise as a medicine. But it can be a menace in the wrong hands.

• Read follow-ups to the series

 
• What is 'bupe'?
• Drug Enforcement Administration's buprenorphine page
• DATA 2000: The law that authorized buprenorphine treatment
• Drug Enforcement Administration's rescheduling of buprenorphine from Schedule V to Schedule III
• FDA talk paper
• Narcotics Anonymous
• Drug Rehabs
• Reckitt Benckiser's site, Suboxone.com
• Reckitt Benckiser's site, Turntohelp.com
• Letter from Reckitt Benckiser VP for scientific and regulatory affairs Rolley 'Ed' Johnson
About the series: To assess the increasing use of buprenorphine treatment, reporters conducted dozens of interviews with physicians, patients, scientists, officials and law enforcement officers. Accompanied by a photographer, they got to know opiate addicts and the people who treat them in Baltimore and in seven cities and towns in New England. That's the region where the drug is most extensively prescribed. A reporter also interviewed addicts and doctors in France, where the drug has been used for more than a decade, and in Mauritius, a nation troubled by illegal use. Reporters also examined federal records and data from drug monitoring systems and from post-marketing surveillance conducted by a consultant for the drug's manufacturer.