"I was sick as a dog. I was 90 pounds soaking wet, and I wanted to die. If not for that man, I would be dead" said Eyssel Gurganus of Goldsboro, N.C., pointing to Hurwitz. "I had been to 36 doctors, and every doctor is afraid of prosecution."

The Los Angeles Times has some background here.

Since the Hurwitz case began, 30 state attorneys general have assailed the Bush administration's Justice Department for its pain-pill policies, saying in a joint letter in January that state and federal policies were increasingly at odds on how to balance legitimate pain treatment with drug enforcement.

And during the Hurwitz trial, a group of eminent medical authorities, all past presidents of the American Pain Society, lambasted one of the Justice Department's expert witnesses for "misrepresentations" that have damaged the ability of doctors to treat pain without fear of prosecution.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to impose a life sentence.