A recent Houston Chronicle story focused on the increase in abuse of the prescription pain killer hydrocodone -- commonly sold as Vicodin and Lortab -- throughout central and southern Appalachia (West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama) where it is causing a huge rise in the number of hydrocodone-addicted people requiring detox and drug rehab.

I was particularly struck by a statement about the unholy power that drug addiction can wield over such a strong instinct as parental love - “If you're faced with this choice – pills or your kids – you think you'd make the right choice. But the drugs are more powerful."

Bob Noone, a child welfare attorney in Logan County, WV, in the heart of Appalachia, told a reporter that he “missed the old abuse and neglect cases where people just had incredibly dirty homes." Now, the attorney said, 80 percent of his cases involve parental abuse and neglect stemming from drug abuse. Families are being torn apart in the mostly rural Appalachian communities where drug and crime problems rival those usually seen only in big cities.

Hydrocodone has become the most-abused prescription drug in the Appalachia region, more than the better known, more powerful OxyContin which just a few years ago was nick-named “hillbilly heroin." During the OxyContin scare, between 2001 and 2003, at least 13 doctors in the region were convicted of supplying medication to drug addicts. Since then, most doctors have become more cautious about prescribing OxyContin. Prescriptions for hydrocodone have risen by an average of 65 percent nationally (124 million prescriptions in 2005 and more by now), by 105 percent in West Virginia, and have nearly doubled in Tennessee.

Unfortunately, hydrocodone has proved to be not only easy to get, but also highly addictive. Even users of street drugs are switching to it. But most hydrocodone addiction problems begin innocently with prescriptions for legitimate pain. If someone you know is using hydrocodone, OxyContin or another opioid pain killer for legitimate reasons or for non-legitimate reasons, help avoid a family breakup or a ruined life. If you suspect an addiction, get them into a successful drug rehab program.