Painkiller Widely Abused in South

- comments have been made suggesting this article is alarmist - I present two examples from my life that show why it is not

This article is sad but consistent with overall increase use / abuse of opioids pain killers such as morphine, oxycodone, and hydrocodone. As a pharmacist & pharmaceutical consultant I think these are main reasons for alarming increase of opioids drugs use in America: The population is getting older. As age increases, so does the need for pain medications such as opiodsPharmaceutical companies...

The article is accurate about addiction but ignores  an important issue: the untreated pain in the world is bigger than the addiction issue.  The Addiction issue is a political issue(in an election year no less) and the human side of pain is real and nobody is without pain. Pain is the 5th vital sign and hospitals are giving it more lip service to appease JCAHO surveys than they are trying...

Painkillers are not the problem; the problem is the people who prescribe them and those who take them.  The biggest problem is that the medical profession was encouraged (look at the old advertisements if you have the time) to prescribe slow-release oral formulations of opioids for CHRONIC pain in the mid-nineties, all the way from osteoarthritis to "chronic back pain" and "chronic aches...

The article describes the increase in hydrocodone abuse, especially in the Southern and Rural US.