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Responding to an outbreak in the drug's prominence, the Charlotte Observer did this four-day series on Oxycontin, a prescription synthetic morphine. Because it is a prescription drug, reporters were able to get records of pharmacies filling prescriptions and give readers detailed information about exactly how big the problem was, and how close-to-home it was. The stories weave complex statistics and human narratives to tell the story of how one drug drastically altered a region.