I can't believe how doctors apparently routinely prescribe addictive painkillers in the US. Here in Europe, as far as I know, doctors only prescribe non-opioid painkillers. I don't know anyone who was prescribed an opioid drug outside of an ICU.
Ibuprofen is surprisingly effective for many types of pain, I don't see why doctors immediately prescribe something as dangerous as OxyContin.
You can buy opioids over the counter in France. Codoliprane for example has 500mg of paracetamol combined with 30mg of codeine. Codeine is not the hardest opioid, but still...
My experience with family in the UK and Ireland is that it's not hard to get the equivalent of Tylenol with codeine. Antibiotics seem to be perscribed more often as well, but that's off topic.
Yes, Co-codamol (paracetamol and codeine) is cheap and available over the counter in the UK. They have "Three days use only" in large letters on the front, like cigarette packet warnings.
Ibuprofen is surprisingly effective for many types of pain, I don't see why doctors immediately prescribe something as dangerous as OxyContin.