OXYCONTIN CONSPIRACY TRIAL SET TO BEGIN FOR 3 DOCTORS

Lawyers for three doctors charged in a federal case that links Myrtle Beach
to a growing national problem of OxyContin abuse say their clients are
ready to stand trial.

Michael Jackson, Deborah Bordeaux and Ricardo Allerre, the last three of 11
original defendants in the case, will be tried beginning Monday in Florence
on charges listed in a 93-count indictment. The others have pleaded guilty
to lesser charges and are awaiting sentencing.

The allegations in the case echo charges that began cropping up nationwide
within three years of the release of the potent pain killer OxyContin, said
Gregg Wood, health care fraud investigator for the U.S. Attorney's office
in Virginia.

In addition, the problems associated with the drug have prompted Grand
Strand-area pharmacists to be more cautious than ever about filling
prescriptions.

"The problem of OxyContin abuse has gone from rural America to being more
of a metropolitan problem," said Wood, who estimates that few doctors
illegally dispense the drug.

Lawyers for the last three defendants in the case say their clients were
practicing legitimate medicine at the pain center.

The indictment says illegal drug activity and fraud occurred at the pain
center from June 1997 through June 2001.

It also accuses Dr. Michael Woodward, owner of the center, of leading the
illegal activity. He pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count each of
money laundering, conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone, the primary
ingredient in OxyContin, and health care fraud.

Others who have pleaded guilty include doctors Benjamin Moore, who later
committed suicide, Thomas Devlin, Deborah Sutherland, Venkata Pulivarthi
and employees Windy Suggs, David Vandergriff and Jason Howard.

In addition to illegally distributing controlled substances, the indictment
said the defendants made patients undergo unnecessary tests so the center
could submit fraudulent claims to Medicare and other health care plans.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Day declined to discuss the trial last week.

Jackson's lawyer, William Diggs, of Myrtle Beach said, "My client didn't do
anything outside the course of legitimate medical services." Jackson now
lives in Alabama, he said.

"I feel real comfortable with putting Dr. Jackson and his credibility
against anyone who would testify against him," Diggs said. "He wasn't going
to plead guilty to something he didn't do."

Lawyers for Bordeaux and Allerre said their clients have maintained their
innocence since their arrests.

"She never issued prescriptions for anything other than legitimate medical
purposes," Bordeaux's lawyer Scott Joye of Murrells Inlet said. He said she
worked at the pain center 57 days before it was shut down.

Allerre, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, worked at the center about
eight months before he was arrested, his lawyer, Bill Nettles, of Columbia
said.

"The vast majority of that time, he was in training," Nettles said. He said
Allerre wasn't aware of an investigation until his arrest.

Ninety-eight percent of the doctors who dispense narcotics such as
OxyContin do it within the law, Wood said.

"Most them are trying to do the right thing, but a small minority are drug
dealers in lab coats," said Wood, who tracks trends in OxyContin use.

He said instances of illegal distribution are increasing, as is the number
of prescriptions issued each year for the drug.

But it also is rapidly increasing in popularity among drug users and
addicts, Wood said. He said the drug also commands a high price when sold
on the street.

For example, a 60-pill legal prescription costs about $240. It's illegal
street value is about $2,400, Wood said.

The maker of the drug, Purdue Pharma, of Connecticut confirmed sales of
OxyContin are increasing, but spokesman James Heins said the company is
working more with authorities and doctors to curb illegal uses.

According to court records, most of the patients at the pain center were
issued prescriptions without being examined.

Doctors who have pleaded guilty admitted seeing more than one patient at
once to issue prescriptions and issuing the narcotics on pre-signed
prescriptions.