WHY MURPHY'S PRESCRIPTIONS RAISED ALARMS

When Donald Williams saw a list of more than 260 drug prescriptions for
then-sheriff Patrick Murphy, he became alarmed.

At the time, in late spring of 1995, he didn't know about Murphy's chronic
pain from a 1988 jaw injury, several spinal injuries and other physical
problems resulting from accidents.

So he decided to warn Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewel, whom he
thought was Murphy's boss.

Williams, the executive director of the state Board of Pharmacy, now knows
that as a sheriff of Snohomish County Murphy then had no boss except the
electorate. He also knows that a judge now thinks his office's
investigation of Murphy's drug prescription was improper.

Williams was on the witness stand Friday explaining why he and others did
what they did after receiving a complaint from the head of Snohomish County
Regional Narcotics Task Force, Al Shelstad, in May of that year.

He was called as a witness in the $10 million civil trial of Murphy and his
family against the board. Their allegation is that the board conspired to
negligently turn confidential information over to county officials who were
unauthorized to have it.

Judge Ronald Castleberry has already ruled that the board improperly
surveyed pharmacies in the region to obtain records of Murphy's drug
prescriptions without obtaining search warrants. However, he told attorneys
that the jury is entitled to know why the board made its decisions.

Still to be decided is whether the jury believes the board had sufficient
cause to turn the information over to Drewel and others.

Williams testified he was concerned about the large volume of narcotic
drugs that Murphy had been receiving from numerous doctors and at several
pharmacies.

The board's survey of pharmacies found a list that took up six
single-spaced pages -- more than 260 prescriptions over 17 months. They
included a host of medicines meant to treat pain and depression, as well as
muscle relaxants.

"Because of the multiple physicians and multiple pharmacies and a large
quantity of opiates, this was an indication of drug seeking," Williams told
the jury.

He said he went to the county executive because he thought the sheriff, who
was driving a county car and had a gun, might be a danger to the public.

In addition, he told the jury that he had concerns for Murphy because of
the amount of acetaminophen contained in the various drugs. Acetaminophen,
a pain reliever found in many drugs, including Tylenol, can cause liver
damage if taken excessively, Williams testified.

In the 17 months of the board's survey, he said he calculated that Murphy
consumed dangerous amounts of acetaminophen for 16 months.

Williams also conceded that he never contacted Murphy about the information
or checked with his physicians to determine why he needed so much pain
medication.

After county officials got the information, a special prosecutor was
brought in. Murphy was charged with fraudulently obtaining prescriptions
just a week before the 1995 sheriff's election. He had been appointed in
May of that year and was seeking election. Murphy subsequently lost to Rick
Bart.

The charges were later dropped when a Skagit County judge ruled that a
search warrant was needed to gather the information about Murphy's
prescriptions.

But the amount of drugs Murphy was taking should not necessarily have
caused alarm, a pain treatment specialist from Texas testified Friday.

Dr. C. Stratton Hill Jr. told jurors that the vast majority of patients
being treated for pain don't get enough medication.

Asked by Mark Northcraft, the Murphys' lawyer, whether the Pharmacy Board
could draw a conclusion about Murphy getting too much pain medication from
the 1995 pharmacy survey, Stratton said, "No way they can make any
judgment." He added that only the treating physician can assess the effect.

He said some people can function perfectly well under heavy narcotic drug
medication.

The trial is expected to continue at least two more weeks.