OxyContin Network Believed Extensive
Federal Probe Nets 41 Convictions
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post
Wednesday, June 25, 2003; Page A06
Federal prosecutors yesterday outlined for the first time
the scope of their investigation into the illegal
distribution of OxyContin, writing in court papers that
they have already snared 41 dealers in an ongoing probe
of doctors, pharmacists and patients who formed a
conspiracy to sell the drugs in a black market.
In court documents associated with pleas and sentencing
hearings in U.S. District Court in Alexandria,
prosecutors said that "Operation Cotton Candy" has been
focusing on 60 to 80 people in Northern Virginia, most
notably two pain doctors who are "major targets" of the
investigation. A federal organized crime and drug
enforcement task force has been working for more than two
years to trace the network of dealers, who prosecutors
claim have received prescriptions for "obscene" amounts
of the painkiller drug from the doctors.
Prosecutors wrote that many of the 41 dealers were
patients or otherwise affiliated with the two doctors and
their separate offices in McLean and Centreville. The
doctors have previously been identified in court papers
as William E. Hurwitz and Joseph K. Statkus. Both have
acknowledged that they are targets of the investigation
but have denied any wrongdoing.
Hurwitz and Statkus would not comment yesterday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi wrote in the papers
that the doctors were prescribing pills after
"perfunctory exams" and would "rubber stamp and
oftentimes encourage the patients' insatiable demand for
Oxy and other pills."
The patients would then fill their prescriptions at
pharmacies and sell the pills or hand them over to
"recruiters and organizers" for later sale at huge
markups. Prosecutors said the pills were often taken to
southwest Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, where some
conspirators have likened the market among rural addicts
to "selling water in the desert," the court papers say.
OxyContin is a form of synthetic morphine that has been
called a miracle drug for cancer patients and others with
intractable pain. A long-acting, FDA-approved time-
release pill, it enables some bedridden patients to
return to their normal lives. But its potency has made it
alluring to abusers, who crush it and snort it or inject
it for a heroin-like high.
The documents released yesterday show that the federal
grand jury is still hearing testimony and is examining
about five patients "who died from receiving and taking
obscene amounts of Oxy and other pills." . . .
*[...]
This is only an excerpt -- read the complete news at:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1556/3958960.html
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