DR. FREEMAN CLARK CONTINUES TESTIMONY IN FEDERAL DRUG TRIAL

ABINGDON -- Testimony was continuing into the night Thursday in the case of
a Bland County doctor accused of illegally prescribing narcotics to
drug-addicted patients.

Dr. Freeman Lowell Clark told a federal jury on the seventh day of his
trial that he hadn't realized his patients were addicted.

He said he only was trying to stop his patients' suffering when he
prescribed powerful narcotics, including OxyContin, for their chronic pain.

"I think I actually tried to take care of the entire patient," said Clark,
43. "If I knew I was going to have all these troubles, ... I'd be a little
more cautious and a little less trusting and a little less believing."

Clark is standing trial this week on 298 counts of illegally prescribing
narcotic painkillers without a legitimate medical purpose.

More than a third of the counts involve morphine-like OxyContin, which has
been linked to more than 120 overdose deaths nationwide. Abuse of the drug
has reached epidemic levels in the region, and more than three dozen
Southwest Virginians have died of overdoses, authorities have said.

Clark's alleged offenses occurred between 1999 and 2000 at his clinic,
which first was in Bluefield and later moved to Wytheville, then Bland.

Patients who testified earlier said they often lied to the doctor,
exaggerating their pain to get pills to feed their addictions.

Prosecutors alleged Clark knew his patients were addicted and continued
prescribing pills to keep them coming back to his fledgling clinic.

"If I did see they were snorting drugs, I would do the right thing," Clark
said, adding he would confront patients about their problem and sometimes
stop prescribing medications.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Ramseyer said that according to patient
files, Clark rarely discharged those who were abusing drugs.

The doctor found Lortab pill fragments in one patient's nose and continued
to prescribe the pain medication to her anyway, according to records.

Another patient told Clark he was addicted to the hydrocodone he was
receiving for back, hip and leg pain and asked to be referred to a
treatment center.

But Clark said he didn't believe the man was addicted, only physically
dependent on the drug.

"Why did you believe him when he said he was in pain but not when he told
you he was addicted to drugs." the prosecutor asked.

"His behaviors ... did not demonstrate any signs or symptoms of addiction,"
Clark replied.

The doctor testified Thursday that there were legitimate medical purposes
for the prescriptions named in the federal indictment against him.

He said he didn't just want to discharge patients whom he suspected were
abusing drugs if he believed they also were in pain.

"If they have a problem, we'll try to work on the problem ... whether it's
snorting pills of whether it's asthma or whether it's headaches," Clark said.

A defense expert witness, Dr. Mitchell Max, began testifying Thursday night.

Max, a researcher in clinical pharmacology with the U.S. Public Health
Service, said years of research into pain has produced no objective way to
document it.

"It's really been a fool's pursuit," said Max, a graduate of Harvard
University's medical school. "Pain is defined by what the patient says he
has or she has."

No treatment has been proven as effective for chronic pain as morphine and
synthetic morphines like oxycodone, he said.

And it's easy for patients to confuse physical dependence on a drug with
addiction, Max testified.

Clark's trial is scheduled to continue today at 9 a.m. If convicted, he
faces a maximum sentence of hundreds of years in jail and millions of
dollars in fines.