“I have no desire to practice medicine in Oklahoma ever again. It is one of the most racist states that I have practiced medicine in my life,” Myers said. “In my opinion this a continuation of their discriminative practices against what I’m doing for chronic pain patients as an African-American physician.”

Myers said his high prescribing count was attributable to the fact that he took on patients who had been overprescribed by other doctors at the Wellness Clinic.

“Of course my numbers are high,” he said.  “You got an irresponsible doctor giving out 30 or 40 oxycodones a month … In order to care for the patients, instead of kicking them to the curb, I took three to four to five months to wean them down. Now how is that being irresponsible?” (Oxycodone  is a an addictive opiate painkiller.)

In its final order, the bureau described the testimony of numerous witnesses at a January administrative hearing during which Myers declined to testify in his own defense.

One witness, former clinic patient Tammy Tanksley, said she started going to the Wellness Clinic because her husband’s brother told her “she could get what she wanted” there.

Tanksley said she received multiple prescriptions for OxyContin and Xanax there. (OxyContin is a brand name for oxycodone. Xanax is the brand name for alprazolam, an addictive anti-anxiety drug.) Tanksley said she would spend $1,400 in cash every month for her prescriptions, then triple that amount by selling what she didn’t use herself. She said Myers signed all of her prescriptions from July 23, 2013, to Jan. 1, 2014, and that no doctor ever gave her a physical exam.

Dr. Richard Brittingham, a Lawton physician who was hired by the narcotics bureau as an expert witness to review the Wellness Clinic’s activity, testified that the doctors there “were practicing substandard medicine and were using the term ‘pain clinic’ as their title, but ‘pill mill’ would be more appropriate.”

Contacted Saturday, narcotics bureau spokesman Mark Woodward said the bureau’s findings spoke for themselves and offered no additional comment.

A previous investigation by Oklahoma Watch and The Oklahoman presented in detail prescribing activities at the Wellness Clinic.

Oklahoma Watch also covered the January hearing leading to Myers’ license revocation.

Reach reporter Warren Vieth at wvieth@oklahomawatch.org.