DOCTOR CALLED 'DRUG DEALER' IN FRAUD TRIAL OPENING

PANAMA CITY - A physician who allegedly funneled thousands of pain pills to
drug addicts, including two who died from oxycodone overdoses, is "a drug
dealer with a medical license," a federal prosecutor told a Florida
Panhandle jury.

A lawyer for Dr. Freddie Williams denied the allegations, blamed patients
for lying to his client to get prescriptions and argued that medicine is an
imperfect art, not an exact science, and therefore subject to human error.

"Simply because someone becomes dependent on a substance does not make the
doctor who prescribed the substance a criminal," defense lawyer Armando
Garcia said in his opening statement.

Williams, 54, of Panama City, is facing 94 charges and could receive up to
life in federal prison if convicted. His trial is expected to take three weeks.

Garcia said physicians must walk a fine line between managing pain and
contributing to addiction but that Williams acted in good faith and used
his best medical judgment.

In his opening statement earlier Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen
Kunz said evidence would show Williams put profit ahead of medical principles.

"This is a case about a drug dealer with a medical license," the prosecutor
said. "This is about a doctor peddling controlled substances - highly
addictive opiates - for cash money."

A search of his office, home and storage unit a year ago Friday turned up a
variety of painkillers, Kunz said. He said Williams' license allowed him to
prescribe, not dispense, drugs.

Investigators also found five business cards with Williams' name and the
moniker "Dr. Feelgood" printed across a depiction of a dollar bill, the
prosecutor said.

"The defendant was simply selling controlled substances to people who
wanted them," Kunz said.

He said Williams prescribed the painkiller oxycodone to known addicts and
in two cases his prescriptions led to deaths.

Oxycodone is the active ingredient in OxyContin, linked to more than 100
deaths across the nation. When swallowed whole it provides 12 hours of pain
relief but can produce a quick and potentially lethal high if chewed,
snorted or injected.

Another Panhandle physician, Dr. James Graves, of Pace, in 2002 was the
first doctor in the nation convicted of manslaughter for OxyContin-related
deaths. Graves was sentenced to 63 years in state prison on four
manslaughter counts for deaths from OxyContin and other drugs he had
prescribed.

Williams is charged with conspiracy to commit mail, wire or health care
fraud, committing health care fraud, conspiracy to distribute or possessing
with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, gun possession by a
convicted felon, three counts of attempting to distribute drugs, 57 counts
of illegally dispensing drugs, 15 counts of mail fraud and 15 counts of
wire fraud.