Closing arguments concluded yesterday in the case of James Graves, a Florida doctor whose excessive OxyContin prescriptions may have killed four patients. Graves is charged with racketeering, unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and four counts of manslaughter. If convicted, the physician could face up to thirty years in prison.

OxyContin is a powerful medication that has been linked to hundreds of overdose deaths. The drug produces a heroin-like high when crushed and snorted or mixed with water and injected. Family members of the deceased and several area pharmacists claim that Graves prescribed the drug in excess. As a result, many pharmacists stopped filling OxyContin prescriptions written by the doctor.