The recent arrest and conviction of a former Portsmouth physician is vivid evidence of OxyContin's powerful lure in small-town America.

        Jeff Lilly, 48, wrote hundreds of bogus prescriptions, pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars, police said, before authorities moved in.

        The clients of his “pain management clinic,” police said, were mainly regular folks from the Ohio River town.

        “He opened that pain management clinic, a little hole in the wall on Main Street, and almost immediately there were long lines of individuals out on the sidewalk in the mornings. We started getting calls,” said Scioto County Prosecutor Lynn Grimshaw.

        The prosecutor said Mr. Lilly charged $200 to $450 for a prescription, kept minimal, if any, patient records, and his one employee at the clinic was not a nurse, but a convicted felon.

        About half the prescriptions were for OxyContin.

        “He gave them what they asked for, normally a month's supply,” Mr. Grimshaw said.

        Earlier this month, Mr. Lilly pleaded guilty to engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. He gave up his medical license and was sentenced to three years in prison.
        —Walt Schaefer

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