Pubdate: Mon, 18 Feb 2002
Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)
Copyright: 2002, Denver Publishing Co.
Contact: letters@rockymountainnews.com
Website: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371
Author: Bill Kaczor, Associated Press Writer

PROSECUTOR: OXYCONTIN 'NO DIFFERENT' FROM A DRUG DEALER

A doctor on trial for the deaths of four patients who overdosed on the
painkiller OxyContin is no different from a drug dealer, a prosecutor said
Monday in closing arguments.

Crowds of patients ate lunch or worked on their cars in the parking lot of
Dr. James Graves' office, giving each other high fives when they came out
with prescriptions, Assistant State Attorney Russell Edgar said.

"You've got to realize something's wrong when outside your office people
are having tailgate parties," Edgar said.

In his closing, defense lawyer H.E. Ellis Jr., echoed testimony by Graves,
who said he was unaware that the deceased patients were abusing drugs and
said no one would have died if OxyContin had been taken as prescribed.

"OxyContin is a good drug if it is taken properly," Ellis said. "Pharmacy
companies don't spend billions of dollars developing drugs if they are
going to kill people."

Edgard contends Graves, 55, of nearby Pace, knew or should have known that
his booming practice was made up largely of drug addicts seeking
prescriptions for OxyContin and other narcotics popular on the street.

The six-member jury is expected to begin deliberating Tuesday. A guilty
verdict would make Graves the first doctor in the nation convicted of
manslaughter or murder in the deaths of patients due to OxyContin overdoses.

Graves is charged with racketeering, four counts of manslaughter through
culpable negligence and five counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled
substance. If convicted on all counts, Graves could face up to 30 years in
state prison.

Ellis admitted that Graves' record keeping was poor, but said jurors would
find evidence of a doctor practicing medicine, not indiscriminately
prescribing drugs, if they examined all 68 patient files introduced during
the trial.

He said the state's case relies heavily on testimony by patients who have
been convicted of crimes and hope to get leniency and who have admitted
they lied about their symptoms to get prescriptions.

"If you'd lie to your doctor, you'd pretty much lie to anybody," Ellis said.

Edgar said Graves needed money after he was forced out of the Navy and
fired from jobs at a Pensacola pain clinic and a state prison. He said the
money rolled in as patients, most paying cash, returned repeatedly to feed
their addictions.

"Word spread that he was the go-to doctor," Edgar said. "He's no different
than a drug dealer."

OxyContin is a 12-hour synthetic opiate. Addicts defeat the time delay and
get a heroin-like high by chewing the pills or crushing them and then
injecting the drug.

Two dozen pharmacists testified they stopped filling what they called
"Graves cocktails" that included Lortab, another painkiller, the
tranquilizer Xanax and the muscle relaxant Soma besides OxyContin.

"Each one of these were popular street drugs," Edgar told the jury. "In the
case of OxyContin, one pill sold for $50. The defendant knew that."

The prosecutor said testimony showed Graves gave only perfunctory
examinations and ordered few, if any tests, before prescribing narcotics to
virtually anyone who complained of pain.

"The defendant had an anyone, anytime, anywhere philosophy of practicing
medicine," Edgar said.