MD INVOLVED IN DRUG RUSE, COURT TOLD

They're round, white painkillers that cost mere cents to produce but sell
on the street for $10 or $15.

A Toronto physician is on trial, accused of writing prescriptions under
fake names for the drugs Percocet and Oxy Contin, two strong pain relievers
containing a narcotic.

In the United States, Oxy Contin is known by its slang nickname "hillbilly
heroin," a reference to those who use it to achieve an effect similar to
that of heroin.

Dr. Revi Devgan has pleaded not guilty to possessing and trafficking in a
controlled substance.

As his trial got under way yesterday, Crown prosecutor Moiz Rahman told the
jury that "normally when you think of trafficking you think of bags of
white powder, briefcases full of money and men in expensive suits." This
case is different, he said.

"The tools of the trade here are a white lab coat, a pen and preprinted
pieces of white paper," a doctor's prescription pad.

Dr. Devgan, 57, "was writing too many prescriptions," Mr. Rahman said in
his opening submission before Mr. Justice Arthur Gans of Ontario Superior
Court.

Mr. Rahman told the court that the evidence will show a slick scheme to
obtain large numbers of the pills illegally between Aug. 8 and Sept. 25, 2001.

Dr. Devgan is alleged to have written prescriptions made out to fictitious
names. Each prescription was for 100 pills and cost $20 to $25 to fill,
including the dispensing fee.

Once ready, the pills were handed over to Sandy Hutchens, a paralegal and
patient of Dr. Devgan, the court was told.

Mr. Hutchens kept many of the pills for himself, taking as many as a dozen
at a time for relief of leg pain caused by a medical condition, the jurors
heard.

But the man who made the scheme possible was 34-year-old Christopher Bird,
whose partner worked in Mr. Hutchens' office, Mr. Rahman said. Sitting in
the witness box yesterday, Mr. Bird said he acted as a drug courier,
working five days a week. He would start the morning at Dr. Devgan's
office, where he picked up an envelope containing prescriptions made out
under various names.

Mr. Bird said he would take those to Mr. Hutchens, who would give him only
those prescriptions on which the name fit his profile.

He would go to pharmacies across the city, leaving one prescription at each
establishment, and then return to pick up the pills. At the end of the day,
he would take all the bottles of pills, along with receipts, to Mr.
Hutchens, who would count them, take some and place the rest in a box in
his office, Mr. Bird testified.

Under cross-examination by David Porter, Dr. Devgan's lawyer, Mr. Bird said
he never saw the physician sign any of the prescriptions. Nor, he said, did
the doctor hand him the envelopes containing them. He testified he received
the envelope from the doctor's receptionist.