Physician To Serve 5 Years, 8 Months

DOCTOR IS SENTENCED ON OXYCONTIN CHARGES

An FDA Advisory Committee In Maryland Discussed OxyContin Again Thursday
But Did Not Make A Formal Recommendation.

A fifth Southwest Virginian was sentenced in federal court Thursday for
writing illegal prescriptions for OxyContin as a Food and Drug
Administration advisory committee convened in Maryland to discuss such abuses.

U.S. District Judge James Jones sentenced Freeman Lowell Clark of Bland to
five years and eight months in federal prison for illegally writing 266
prescriptions for OxyContin.

The potent painkiller has been linked to fatal overdoses and criminal
activity throughout the country.

Clark, who practiced out of offices in Wytheville, Bluefield and Bland,
faced up to 10 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

Jones gave Clark a shorter sentence after he determined that the doctor had
a diminished mental capacity because of a head injury, said Assistant U.S.
Attorney Randy Ramseyer.

Clark, 44, will not be allowed to practice after he is released from prison
for three years of probation, Ramseyer said.

Clark is also required to pay a special assessment of $266,000 for the
counts he was convicted on, Ramseyer said.

Meanwhile at the advisory committee meeting Thursday in Maryland, an
official with the Drug Enforcement Administration said law enforcement's
goal is not to restrict the availability of medicine for those who need it.

Howard Davis of the DEA's office of diversion and control stressed to the
committee that only a tiny fraction of physicians should be concerned about
possible legal action.

Last year, 79 doctors nationwide were charged as a result of DEA
investigations into their prescribing practices, Davis said.

There are about 925,000 licensed prescribers in the country.

Still, some in the medical community believe that widespread publicity
about OxyContin abuse has had a chilling effect on doctors.

One survey of 1,300 doctors showed that more than half were concerned about
regulatory scrutiny, and at least half of those had changed their
prescribing behavior as a result, the committee was told.

After discussing the use of opium-based drugs such as OxyContin for two
days, the committee completed its work Thursday without making a formal
recommendation to the FDA.

Some patient advocates had feared the committee would favor restricting the
use of opiates, but there was no such sentiment on the panel of physicians,
researchers and health care experts.

In fact, several members of the committee said it appeared to them that
opiates were not being used enough to treat pain.