According to a new report, a large number of Americans have been seeking prescriptions for pain relief drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin and Dilaudid, since long.

The study kicked off in 2004 and found that the demand rose by 111%, as recorded till 2008. Meanwhile, it surged by 29% between 2007 and 2008.

Peter Delany, Director of the Office of Applied Studies at the U. S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said that a number of people have been visiting the emergency rooms in the hospitals for non- prescribed use of narcotic drugs.

"So much of a concern that this is one of the center points of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's strategies to look at prevention and treatment", he added.

The researchers picked up data from the emergency departments cycles in SAMHSA's Drug Abuse Warning Network. They analyzed the number of emergency visits for non- prescribed use of the pain relief narcotic drugs.

It was found that both and women showed a rapid increase in the number, coupled with the seekers from different age groups, including teenagers.

As per the figures released in the report, the visits in the emergency wards, between 2004 and 2008, significantly increased from 144,600 to 306,000.