The amount of painkillers sold at retail establishments is an alarm highlighting either that Americans are living in a world full of pain or that prescriptions are too easily given to patients in pain.

With a 90 percent growth in the quantity of the five major painkillers sold between 1997 and 2005, meaning more than 20,000 pounds of codeine, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and meperidine, every US resident could receive 300 milligrams of painkillers.

The most popular is oxycodone, the chemical used in OxyContin has done all the ‘work’, its use increasing six times. Myrtle Beach met the most significant growth, oxycodone distribution going up with 800 percent.

Appalachia seems keen on hydrocodone, found mostly as Vicodin, having the highest nation rate of retail sales of this drug. The rural areas of West Virginia, Kentucky or Tennessee detain the hydrocodone ‘record’.

Drug Enforcement Administration searched for the causes of these alarming statistics. Firstly, the population is getting older. The pains augment and diverse as the age increases, and thus the need for medication. According to the Census Bureau, by 2020 the old population will reach 54 million, compared to the 2000 figures of 35 million.

Secondly, drug makers have developed and perfected marketing strategies that boast their sales considerably. The 1997 marketing expenses were of $ 11 billion, billowing to $30 billion in 2005.

Thirdly, pain management philosophy has reached a new stage. While some years ago pain was part of the healing process and had to be accepted and bore, nowadays pain management is some of the gist of getting over the illness.

The situation has major consequences upon the population. While some just take advantage of the wide availability of painkillers, abuse painkiller cases becoming more frequent in emergency rooms by 160 percent since 1995, the really needy patients are forced to drive hundreds of miles until they find the medication they need.

The latter case results from the fact that many pain management experts are so scared of arrests and federal prosecutions, that they don’t provide the medication not even when it is genuinely needed.