Ruth Potee, M.D., of Greenfield, Mass., said that when buprenorphine first became available in 2002, there was an expectation that it would be widely used in primary care because addiction is a chronic condition. “By 2010, only 2 percent of primary care physicians were prescribing it,” she said. “That was a massive failure.”

Dr. David O’Gurek, associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University of Philadelphia said stigma is one of the challenges of overcoming substance abuse disorder. He said buprenorphine can help by giving people more control.