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.''