( CNN ) -- An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday voted 19-10 to recommend placing tighter restrictions on hydrocodone , an ingredient found in popular prescription drugs including Vicodin , Norco and Lortab . If the panel 's advice is adopted by FDA , it would put hydrocodone on par with prescription painkillers like oxycodone , morphine , and methadone -- drugs with high abuse potential that can lead to severe physical dependence . With its vote , the advisory panel is suggesting that hydrocodone be moved from its current classification as a Schedule III drug -- a drug with moderate abuse potential -- to a more restrictive Schedule II classification . Among a wide field of potent prescription painkillers -- which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says are fueling an epidemic of abuse in the United States -- hydrocodone may have been flying under the radar among doctors . `` Most doctors are under the impression that Vicodin ( whose main ingredient is hydrocodone ) is less addictive than other prescription painkillers , '' said Dr. Andrew Kolodny , president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing . `` When you wonder why your dentist gives you 40 hydrocodone for a toothache , or your knee doctor prescribes far more than he should , that 's because they 're under the impression that it 's not addictive as Percocet . That 's completely false . '' Concerns about generic painkillers increase . The panel 's advice , if adopted by the FDA , would limit how much hydrocodone a patient could get between doctor visits . It would also limit refills -- Schedule III drugs can be refilled up to five times , while Schedule II drugs are not eligible for refills , according to the Drug Enforcement Administration . But pain patient advocacy groups and pharmaceutical companies , among others , fear that reclassification will make it harder for patients to get medications they need . `` The FDA advisory committee is considering a proposal that could make it harder for patients with legitimate health needs to obtain essential medications , '' according to a statement by the National Community Pharmacists Association , which represents pharmacy owners and employees . Hydrocodone is the most prescribed painkiller in the U.S. : 131 million prescriptions for hydrocodone were written in 2010 , according to IMS Health , a health care information company . That number far outpaces the medical need for the drug , said Kolodny . `` We 've had a medical community that has been massively overprescribing the drug , '' said Kolodny . `` There is very little difference between a hydrocodone molecule and a heroin molecule . We need doctors to prescribe much more cautiously . '' But it is up for question whether rescheduling hydrocodone will deter doctors from prescribing , or make it very difficult for patients to obtain it , said Dr. Stephen Anderson , an emergency-room physician in Auburn , Washington . `` You 'd like for providers who write prescriptions for it to think twice , you 'd like people who use it to think twice , '' said Anderson , also a past president of the Washington chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians . `` Unfortunately I think way too many providers do n't draw that distinction very often . '' Prescription drug deaths : Two stories . And while Anderson does not wholly agree that reclassifying hydrocodone will necessarily change habits , he says that the move does underline a dire need to change the overall perception of painkillers . `` Society 's starting to open their eyes that there is a problem associated ( with prescription painkillers ) , '' said Anderson . `` If you make a move like this ... it 's out there in the conversation about this epidemic , and that 's a good thing . '' An FDA spokeswoman could not confirm when the FDA would act on the panel 's recommendation . The DEA will make the ultimate decision on whether to reschedule the drug .
An advisory panel recommends that hydrocodone be more restricted . Panel : hydrocodone , a Schedule III drug , should be under more restrictive Schedule II . The FDA could limit how much hydrocodone a patient could get between doctor visits . The FDA has not said when it would act on the recommendation .