Pubdate: Thu, 17 Jan 2002
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
Copyright: 2002 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Author: Roger Alford
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin)

DOCTOR GOES ON TRIAL ON CHARGES HE PRESCRIBED OXYCONTIN WITHOUT MEDICAL REASON

PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- A Harlan County physician was either so moneyhungry 
that he handed out prescriptions for the painkiller OxyContin to get 
rich, or he was a sympathetic doctor who didn't want his patients to 
suffer.

Those were the contrasting pictures that a prosecutor and a defense 
attorney painted of Dr. Ali Sawaf yesterday in the opening day of his 
trial in U.S. District Court in Pikeville.

Sawaf, 60, has been in jail since Feb. 1 on charges of prescribing 
drugs without a legitimate medical purpose. He faces maximum 
penalties of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine if convicted on 
the federal charges.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger West said Sawaf was seeing up to 100 
patients a day. West said in his opening statement that Sawaf 
conducted no physical exams and took no medical histories before 
writing prescriptions for an assortment of painkillers, including 
OxyContin, which has been blamed for dozens of overdose deaths in 
Kentucky.

''It's all about money,'' West said.

Authorities contend that street-level dealers sought out doctors who 
would prescribe OxyContin, which is intended for terminal cancer 
patients and chronic pain sufferers.

If taken properly, the drug's ingredients are released slowly into 
the body. But abusers circumvent the time-release by crushing the 
pills and inhaling or injecting the powder to get the same kind of 
euphoric high that heroin brings.

In the illegal drug trade, authorities said, one 80-milligram 
OxyContin pill can fetch $80.

Last February local, state and federal authorities joined forces for 
Kentucky's largest-ever drug raid, which resulted in more than 200 
arrests on charges of trafficking in OxyContin.

Sawaf, arrested days before the regional sweep, plans to testify in 
his own behalf. His trial is expected to last about two weeks. His 
attorney, Russell Alred of Harlan, said Sawaf will explain to jurors 
how he chose to become a physician after watching his father die a 
painful death with cancer.

Alred said Sawaf was a caring physician who wanted to ease pain for 
his patients, many of whom were injured coal miners and loggers.

''This man, as a physician, doesn't want to see his patients 
suffer,'' Alred said. ''He wanted to help them.''

When undercover officers began to investigate Sawaf, Alred said, they 
came to him complaining of severe pain from previous injuries. In one 
case, the defense attorney said, a deputy working on the case told 
Sawaf that an officer posing as his wife was addicted to OxyContin 
and asked for a prescription for her.

Alred said evidence will show that Sawaf agreed to give that 
prescription to appease her until she could get started on a 
treatment program.

''All the prescriptions in question were written to police 
officers,'' Alred said. ''That's what you will see in this case, 
police officers lying to a physician. . . . They really pulled the 
wool over this man's eyes.''
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