Rotorua GP Dr Harry Pert said the health board and doctors were aware of the problems associated with oxycodone, but said its use needed to fall even further.
For some people, ongoing use of opioids, the drug family oxycodone is from, is the best option for relief from debilitating pain, allowing a chance to function with relative normalcy.
Despite proven benefits however, many opioids, including oxycodone, have addictive properties.
Addiction specialist and psychiatrist Dr Jeremy McMinn said oxycodone was a highly addictive opioid when used regularly, and its use in New Zealand has been under scrutiny for almost a decade.
Oxycodone prescriptions skyrocketed in New Zealand 249 per cent between 2007 and 2011, before "mounting international evidence for adverse effects, addiction, emergency admissions, overdoses and mortality began to influence prescribing practice," according to a 2016 New Zealand Medical Journal article.
Dr Pert said oxycodone was a very effective painkiller, but said it was prescribed too often for the risks it carried.
"It is a problem and it is being addressed, but not as quickly as I think we would like. There's a greater awareness of the addictive potential of oxycodone, and a growing awareness that it should be a second-line drug, rather than a first-line drug for severe, non-cancer pain," Dr Pert said.
He said discussing issues around pain treatment was increasingly relevant as the population aged and more people developed chronic pain.
"You've always got to tread a line between the immediate need of whatever the patient's presenting with, and the side effects of any treatment."
However, the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists said patients had become hesitant to take opioids out of fear of addiction, despite most recipients not experiencing dependence.
"A groundswell of opposition to prescription opioids could be detrimental to the thousands of patients for whom they are effective," said Professor Milton Cohen, FPM's Director of Professional Affairs.
"It would be most unfortunate for those people who respond well to opioids if this option was thrown out because of the risks of misuse."
When questioned about the prescription rates of oxycodone, Lakes DHB chief executive Ron Dunham said in an email: "Lakes DHB monitors the use of opioids in our district and provides advice to prescribers when necessary."
Prescription opioid abuse was at the point of an epidemic in the United States, according to the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention. More than 14,000 Americans died in 2014 from overdoses involving prescription opioids, and almost 2 million Americans were addicted. Methadone and oxycodone were the two most overdosed opioids.
However, the prescribing environment in New Zealand was vastly different and more tightly controlled than in the US, said Dr McMinn. He said New Zealand was unlikely to reach the level of harm seen in the US.
"I think the safeguards are greater here compared to the US. It's a less sensationalist story, but I think the structure of healthcare provision here allows for more considered prescribing, which is your strongest safeguard.
"That having been said, many addiction specialists and some pain doctors would be concerned about the rate at which oxycodone has been prescribed without what seems to be adequate consideration around day-to-day safeguards," Dr McMinn said.
"We've become opioid-heavy in our prescribing."
What is Oxycodone?
* A strong painkiller and Class B controlled drug
* It is highly addictive synthetic, opium-like drug
* It provides effective pain relief, particularly for short-term, severe pain
