A powerful prescription painkiller twice as potent as morphine is finding its way on to the illicit drug market, despite a dip in local prescription numbers.
Oxycodone, also known as "hillbilly heroin", is a synthetic opiate often prescribed for pain relief associated with fractures, arthritis and cancer.
It is as addictive as morphine, twice as potent, and more expensive. Thousands of oxycodone prescriptions are being doled out to Rotorua patients.
The drug is now the number one cause of overdose in the United States, ahead of heroin and cocaine.
According to the Best Practice Journal, the use of oxycodone in New Zealand increased by 249 per cent between 2008-2012. It has been subsidised by Pharmac since 2005.