Sentenced:
° 24-year-old Carey Lynn Raines, 70 to 84 months.
° 40-year-old Billy Joe Frisbee, 90 to 117 months.
° 43-year-old Pamela Jean McCracken, 70 to 84 months.
° 45-year-old Michael Meushaw, 70 to 84 months.
° 43-year-old Danny L. Smith, 70 to 84 months.
* All five also received a $50,000 fine.

Deaths. Pharmacy break-ins. Doctors over-prescribing highly addictive drugs.

They are all aspects of a wide-ranging, year-long investigation that led to the recent sentencing of five Haywood County people arrested in June 2001 on charges of trafficking OxyContin.

District Attorney Charles Hipps and Haywood County Sheriff Tom Alexander called reporters together last week after the last of the suspects — Carey Lynn Raines — pleaded guilty after a short trial in Superior Court. The other four suspects all pleaded guilty. Sentences ranged from 70 to 117 months, and the state's mandatory sentencing provisions should keep the drug dealers behind bars for years, said Hipps.

“A very large number of cases were generated out of this group of five individuals,” said Hipps.

Hipps said Alexander's investigators did the bulk of the work, but the SBI, Waynesville and Canton police were also involved. The district attorney’s office dedicated two attorneys to the case.

“These are the major people dealing this drug now,” said Alexander.

Both men, however, believe the void will fill quickly.

“With the major players gone, the minor leaguers will advance up,” said Hipps.

OxyContin is a highly addictive prescription narcotic that has earned the nickname “hillbilly heroin.” In this case, at least two break-ins at the Waynesville Pharmacy, one at the Village Pharmacy, and one at the Hazelwood Pharmacy were tied to the five dealers sentenced last week. Two deaths were attributed at least partially to the use of the OxyContin linked to this investigation, said Hipps. Other property crimes by people trying to get money to buy the drugs should decrease for a while as access to this drug diminishes, said Alexander.

And as investigators continue work, the case may lead down another path.

“One problem not addressed is physicians being too liberal giving out prescriptions,” said Hipps. “Some need to be referred to the state medical board. That may already have happened.”

Many of the drugs sold illegally in Haywood County were obtained at local pharmacies from prescriptions written by doctors from other counties, said Hipps.

“No one can take that many,” he said.

Since OxyContin is a prescription drug, it can be possessed legally. Its timed-release characteristic make it sought after and expensive.

“We probably spent close to $15,000 making undercover buys between us and the SBI,” said Alexander. “This probably cost more than many investigations.”

Hipps’ judicial district spreads through the entire seven counties west of Buncombe, but he said OxyContin has yet to become a major problem in the region.

“There’s not as much in the other counties. It’s still mostly cocaine, crack and marijuana,” said Hipps.