Great News For Chronic Pain Patients! Richard Paey Granted Full-Pardon and Clemency!

[Wiley50]

I just got this in email from American Pain Foundation

Richard Paey, the 48 year-old pain patient who was sentenced to 25 years in jail in Florida for "drug trafficking," was granted a full-pardon and clemency Thursday, September 20, by Florida Governor Charlie Crist and his Cabinet. The Governor's pardon and clemency order illustrates the kind of understanding and compassion that needs to be much more present in our medical system and in the ranks of law enforcement, regulatory, and prosecution systems.

The American Pain Foundation applauds Governor Crist’s sensible and compassionate act in righting a situation that should have never gotten so out of control. The American Pain Foundation also commends the tireless work of the Paey family in motivating and galvanizing the pain advocacy community to take a stand against the unfair treatment of people in pain. The emotional and financial toll inflicted on the Paey family by Florida law enforcement is simply unacceptable.

Richard's prosecution symbolizes the moral decay of our law enforcement and prosecutorial system that chose to see a person in severe chronic pain as a criminal and drug dealer rather than an individual in severe medical crisis seeking a solution for his pain. Law enforcement and prosecutors are not medical experts and should not be permitted to perpetuate a state of fear among people with legitimate pain needs and the medical community that serves them. Richard’s case is a shining example of what can happen when law enforcement and drug abusers dictate medical policy.

Treating desperate pain patients and doctors who treat them like common drug dealers is insane. There should never, ever, be another case like Richard Paey. The American Pain Foundation is committed to supporting the rights of people in pain through education and advocacy. Efforts to prevent the diversion and abuse of pain medication must be balanced so they do not interfere with appropriate and effective care for people with pain.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Paey

Richard Paey is a Florida man who was incarcerated in 2004 for drug trafficking. There was no evidence he ever distributed or intended to sell any pills, but drug laws in many states, including Florida, allow officials to prosecute for trafficking based solely on the quantity an individual possesses. Paey spent three and a half years in prison, until he was granted a full pardon by Florida Governor Charlie Crist in September of 2007.

n 1985 Paey was involved in an automobile accident. A subsequent botched operation left him in near constant pain. Like many chronic pain patients, he developed a tolerance to the opioid painkillers he was using to alleviate his suffering. Detectives began their investigation of him in 1996. Due to the quantities of pills he was buying, it was believed he was trafficking the drugs. However, a three month investigation turned up no evidence of intent to sell, and the quantities he bought are not unusual for long time users of opioid painkillers. Nonetheless, Florida law allows prosecution for trafficking based solely on the amount of drug the suspect possesses. Paey was arrested in March 1997.

Prosecutors offered Paey a plea deal in 1999 that would have resulted in a guilty plea of attempted trafficking and 3 years of house arrest, but he chose to fight the charges. A similar plea was offered during his first trial in 2002, but it was quickly rescinded after Paey accepted it. Paey was eventually convicted in his third trial on 15 counts of drug trafficking, possession of a controlled substance, and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. On April 16, 2004, he was sentenced to a 25 year mandatory minimum prison sentence and a $500,000 fine.

Later, Dwayne Hillis, one of the jurors in the trial, came publicly forward and said he was pressured into a guilty verdict with assurances that Richard Paey would serve no jail term.

Paey served three and a half years at the Tomoka Correctional facility in Daytona Beach, Florida. During this time, the state provided a direct IV pump of morphine directly into his back to alleviate his pain. The strength of the morphine drip prescribed to him was stronger than the "morphine equivalent" of the amount of oxycodone that he was arrested for using in the first place.<1>

[ThomCat]

1. I wish this signalled a turn-around.

I doubt this will help many other people. We just keep hearing more and more stories about people being harassed and arrested because they need help dealing with chronic pain.

I'm a chronic pain patient. I know many other chronic pain people. Are we all at risk at any time?

The last sentence made me laugh, in a very bitter kind of way.

"the state provided a direct IV pump of morphine directly into his back to alleviate his pain. The strength of the morphine drip prescribed to him was stronger than the "morphine equivalent" of the amount of oxycodone that he was arrested for using in the first place."

At least they treated his pain. I hope he can get the painkillers he needs now that he's out.

[tblue37]

7. I also am a chronic pain patient. People who don't suffer from severe

chronic pain simply have no clue.

[ThomCat]

8. I agree.

I know some people who empathize very well. But people who don't have chronic pain don't really understand what it does to every aspect of your whole life.

[tblue37]

14. Nor do they understand how exhausting, how draining, it is to

have to deal with it every moment of the day.

[Wiley50]

22. Hi Buddy! How Ya Been? n/t

[tblue37]

29. Hi, Wiley!

How are you? I hope things have been going better for you lately. I see you on the occasional thread, but nowhere near as often as I used to see your name. I hope that doesn't mean ill health!? (Seeing you on a chronic pain thread concerns me, of course, because I suspect that most of us drawn to this thread are here because we suffer from severe chronic pain.)

[Warren DeMontague]

18. If anybody ever brings some long overdue rectification to this situation

you'll have those pesky, irritating, much-maligned-in-certain-quarters "libertarian" types to thank for it, I'll bet.

[ThomCat]

19. I would be cool with that.

It's about time Libertarianism was used to justify something other than selfishness.

[Warren DeMontague]

20. Right, standing up for the right of people to control their own bodies and make their own decisions

is inherently "selfish", of course.

Whereas playing finger-wagging nanny about other people's decisions, lifestyles, choices and relationships is the pinnacle of altruism. :eyes:

[ThomCat]

21. The problem with the libertarian approach

is instead of standing up for everyone's ability, it's always "my ability," even if someone else get's hurt. It's the libertarian approach, for example in commerce, that says "buyer beware" because I'm free to cheat you and sell you shit. You have a right to not buy it, buy that's not much protecting if you're being conned.

Libertarianism gives us, not only the right to do what we want, but the right to do it to other people even if they don't want.

I'd much rather pursue rights for everyone equally, without anyone having a right to victimize other people.

[Warren DeMontague]

23. I don't know if you're deliberately conflating small-l libertarianism with the big-L Libertarian

Party, or not. But I've seen enough of your posts to know you're a smart guy. So I highly doubt you haven't figured out the difference between social or left-libertarianism, which generally pertains to individual freedom, and big-L Libertarian Party Libertarianism particularly as it pertains to economics, business, and an utter lack of governmental regulation or oversight of the same. I'm going to assume you have some sort of a clue, there, and not go into lengthy detail- but suffice it to say that pretty much everyone here on DU who identifies as left-libertarian supports the right of individuals to run their OWN lives, make their OWN decisions, insofar as they aren't directly harming or endangering anyone else.

Nevertheless, we're still subjected to the inevitable poo-flinging over the "L" word, as if we're all supporters of a flat tax and opponents of environmental laws or government financed sewer systems.

Get it? Yeah, I'm sure you can wrap your head around that.

Now, of course, the control freak crowd will go through all kinds of bullshit contortions to define "victimizing other people" into situations where consenting adults are making their own choices. The war against your pain meds, for instance, is no doubt not framed as "we want to make sure pain patients suffer".. it is, of course, about "protecting the children" from being "victimized" by "harmful drugs".

Nevermind that it's not ABOUT keeping drug dealer X from selling drug Y to Child Z. It's about keeping consenting adults from making their own decisions about THEIR OWN BODIES.

Same with the rest of the drug war. Same with the rest of the bullshit "wars" on consenting adult behaviors (of course, with the attendant mental and semantic gymnastics required to convince us that "they" can't "really" consent) that get so many control freaks into such a frisson-fueled frenzy.

It is a simple, across the board philosophical position that is embodied by left or social libertarianism: That what consenting adults do with THEIR OWN BODIES is THEIR OWN BUSINESS, as long as they're not harming or endangering anyone else. That goes for everyone, and it goes for every behavior- whether it's having gay sex, using birth control or getting an abortion, smoking a joint, or fucking in front of a camera. It's the people who want to pick and choose only the "approved" choices- based on their agenda, based on the lens through which they interpret everyone else's lives and choices- who are not pursuing the rights "equally", if you ask me.

And frankly, I think it's rather surprising that a small, yet rather vocal, minority here considers "libertarian" (that's with a small "l", remember) such a nasty word.

[Wiley50]

24. We Can Thank PainFoundation.org

Chronic Pain affects all parties and no parties

BTW they have some great forums there if you want to learn and share with other chronic pain sufferers

[Warren DeMontague]

25. Yes, I meant small-l "libertarianism" the philosophy, not the big-L Libertarian Party.

The point being, that the people who are standing up against intrusion in all aspects of people's personal lives- bodies, bedrooms, bloodstreams.. who fight the fight against censorship and interference in people's choices- are on the forefront of this fight.

Thanks for the link.

[Wiley50]

26. When You Hurt Bad, That's all that matters n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

27. No shit. That Richard Paey story is atrocious.

I think it should be required reading for everyone who thinks the "Drug War" is working or justified.

[BlueJazz]

2. Great!...I'm happy to hear this good news. I dated an Attorney once who worked...

...in the justice system.
She drank a lot (why I stopped seeing her) but told me horror stories of
"Political Aspirations" that clouded fairness and justice in the system.

( Prosecutor: "I don't give a shit if He's guilty or not...the mayor wants this case closed")

Fuckin' Scary...

[Wiley50]

3. KickTime n/t

[hedgehog]

4. Blessings on whoever ensured he was given the morphine pump!

Otherwise it would have been three yrears of torture (if he could have lasted that long!)

BTW - was he taking oxycodone because it was cheaper than a morphine pump?

[ThomCat]

9. He was probably taking oxycodone instead of morphine

because the drug companies make much more of a profit from oxycodone, so they push doctors to prescribe it. Morphine is an old medication so it's dirt cheap.

The prison's probably use morphine as their first choice for exactly the same reasons. Oxycodone costs more, and morphine is cheap.

[dysfunctional press]

12. my dr. switched me from oxycontin to methadone when i lost my insurance...

because it's so much cheaper.

i have insurance again- but i've stuck with the methadone...i've been taking 50-70 mg. daily for the past 7 years- and probably will be doing so for many more.

[AuntPatsy]

5. That really is good news, i get so tired of others constantly regulating

things they have no business regulating...as in the law makers...until you walk in someone's shoes so to speak dont' presume you know their pain.

[FloridaJudy]

6. I hate to say this

But Crist actually does something decent from time to time. He may be a Republican, but he's a vast improvement over Jeb Bu$h.

[ThomCat]

10. Yes, but "being better than Jeb" isn't setting the bar very high.

I hope Crist ends up being far better than just better than Jeb.

[FloridaJudy]

33. So far Crist has:

1) Introduced a bill to restore voting rights to those convicted of felonies who have served their sentences.
2) Gone after the insurance companies who were gouging homeowners for disaster insurance.
3) Called for an investigation of conditions in juvenile detention facilities.
4) Supported a ban on off-shore drilling, and actively promotes stricter pollution control laws and building solar plants.
5) Promoted stronger laws against hate crimes.
6) Pardoned this poor guy.

As I said: not half-bad for a Republican. His positions on abortion rights and gay marriage stink, but he actually seems to be an honest sort of guy. I'm not going to vote for him, but I'll give him credit when he does the right thing, and I think he did it here.

[Occulus]

11. If he were employable, though,

would any employer hire him after this?

There will always be people who think he's guilty as sin. Of whatever.

Why doesn't the state have to pay every last dime of this man's expenses for the rest of his life?

[Pastiche423]

13. Although this is fabulous news

Mr. Paey still had to serve over three years in prison for being in PAIN!

What happened to him is thoroughly inhumane.

[Wiley50]

15. Yup, That's the point here

If anyone in chronic pain needs help
Don't hesitate to contact:

painfoundation.org

They worked their butt off to get this to happen

[Pastiche423]

16. Thanks for the link!

Kudos to them.

I have bookmarked the link for myself.

[Warren DeMontague]

17. 'Bout fucking time. Another piece of fallout from the "drug war"- hope you don't get a painful

illness or injury, because doctors are terrified to prescribe adequate pain medication due to overzealous DEA agents.

[Tian Zhuangzhuang]

28. Thank God for a little sanity

I've been following this case locally it truly was a nightmare from the get go. And this could happen to any of us.


On a side note I know he is an R but I have been pleasantly surprised with Gov. Christ. He seems more progressive than some of the D's in this state.

[FloridaJudy]

34. As have I

I disagree with many of his positions, but we could have far worse governors than Crist (and have - the late unlamented Bush brother for example).

Interesting user name: how did you choose it? I'm a Chinese film addict myself.

[Canuckistanian]

30. This was the guy that AAR contrasted to Rush Limbaugh

Rush was charged for nearly the identical crime and got away with a slap on the wrist.

But no fancy lawyers or luxury rehab clinics for Richard Paey, no sir.

These cases should be used by reformers to call for more justice and equality in punishing drug addicts for their addiction.

[ThomCat]

31. Aaargh! I remember that!

Damn! Damn! Damn!

The guy with the legitimate need for pain meds spent 3.5 years in jail, and the adict who didn't need them walked away free. x(

Why, why, why couldn't it have been Rush Limbaugh in jail? :(

[Kurovski]

32. K&R. (nt)