DOCTOR GUILTY IN OXYCONTIN CASE

PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- A federal jury late last night convicted a Harlan County
doctor accused of overprescribing OxyContin and other painkillers.

Ali Sawaf, 60, a urologist who has practiced in Harlan since 1998, faces up
to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine after being found guilty of
prescribing the drugs without a legitimate medical purpose from January
2000 to February 2001. Sentencing has not been scheduled yet.

Sawaf was charged with 11 federal counts of knowingly and intentionally
distributing a controlled substance. He was also charged with three counts
of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

He was found guilty of eight of the 11 drug-related charges and was found
innocent of all three of the weapons-related charges.

Closing arguments yesterday pitted the prosecution's view of Sawaf as a
money-hungry doctor who freely dispensed addictive drugs without physical
examinations against the defense's view of Sawaf as a compassionate doctor
who sought to help people in pain.

Jurors began deliberations about 3 p.m. and reached the verdict shortly
after 10 last night. They are scheduled to reconvene this morning to
consider one additional count dealing with the seizure of profits from drugs.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger West said the case began with concern
expressed by pharmacists who were so inundated with Sawaf's prescriptions
for OxyContin that they stopped filling them.

West reviewed the testimony of six pharmacists in and around Harlan County
who said they saw an increase in the number of OxyContin prescriptions
written after Sawaf began practicing in the area.

In contrast, defense attorney Russell Alred depicted his client as a caring
physician who merely helped patients in pain.

OxyContin, a highly addictive painkiller originally intended for cancer
patients in severe pain, has been linked to at least 70 overdose deaths in
Eastern Kentucky. Abusers crush and either snort or inject the drug to
bypass a timerelease mechanism.

Pharmacists in Harlan testified they stopped filling Sawaf's prescriptions
because of the inordinately large amount of narcotics given to patients.

Sawaf, an Iraqi national who became an American citizen in 1976, was
charged with felony tax evasion in Michigan and is currently paying
$114,000 in back taxes. It is illegal for a felon to possess firearms and
ammunition.