This case illustrates why I and many of my colleagues devote 1000+ hours per year in the direction of reforming destructive and failed “zero-tolerance” public drug policies.

We’ll be having a celebration party in Pasco County over the next couple days as Paey is finally reunited with his wife and children.

This will get coverage statewide, but for the moment, here’s the Miami Herald version as released less than an hour ago:

Webpage: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/244303.html
Pubdate: Thu, 20 Sep 2007
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Author: Marc Caputo

PAIN SUFFERER WINS PARDON IN DRUG CASE

Richard Paey, a victim in the war on drugs, was granted a full, immediate and unexpected pardon by Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet Thursday morning, allowing him to get out of prison and be reunited with his family later in the day.

Paey, 49, has spent the last 3 ½ years in prison after he was convicted on drug trafficking charges in a 1997 arrest for filling out fake prescriptions and possessing about 700 Percocet narcotic painkillers. He was to be imprisoned for 25 years.

The catch: Everyone, including judges, acknowledged the traffic accident victim was using the pills for debilitating pain. Since his incarceration, prison doctors have hooked him up to a morphine drip, which delivers more pain medication daily than he was convicted of trafficking.

The state’s parole commission recommended denying clemency for Paey, who was only seeking to have his prison sentence commuted. But after his lawyer, wife and four children wept and pleaded for Paey’s release, Crist and the Cabinet went further than Paey expected by unanimously agreeing to grant him a full pardon—meaning he’ll have the right to vote and carry firearms.

They also acknowledged that the state’s drug laws might be unfair.

‘’This is not a pleasant case,’’ said Attorney General Bill McCollum, who noted that he supported mandatory-minimum sentences when he was in Congress. ``Our laws are very much to blame.’’

But so are the prosecutors in Pasco County, said Paey’s wife, Linda Paey, who said she couldn’t understand why they zealously pursued her husband through three trials despite the widespread acknowledgement that he was a pain victim and not a drug dealer.

‘’I’ve changed. I no longer trust the police. I don’t trust the justice system,’’ she said. ``Only the media got our case right.’’

Crist, too, took a swipe at the prosecutors, saying the war on drugs itself isn’t just to blame in cases such as this. ‘’If they’re prosecuted appropriately, then justice will be done,’’ he said. ``Obviously, this case cries out for a review of that process.’’

It never fails to amaze me how most any entity of government (state, local, federal) is nearly devoid of common sense.

Well, They Is Us at the end of the day, so I guess these stories should give us all at least a moment of sober reflection on how we may have contributed to the current state of affairs.

Who we vote for, who we endorse as a candidate for public office and where we choose to speak out against injustice all are factors.

Another common error made by many of us is that we see a societal problem (perhaps “drug abuse") and we cry out to the government to “Fix the problem” using the criminal justice system.

We all need to be smarter.

Damnit...that means ME too.....I hate that some days.

To me, it’s the kind of people that seem to gravitate to government work. Yes, we need to be smarter to see through the demagoguery that gets the candidates into office.

Initial coverage from the St Pete Times:

TALLAHASSEE—Richard Paey is a chronic pain patient in year three of a
25-year mandatory-minimum sentence for trafficking in drugs—his own pain
medication.

But his freedom is just hours away.

Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida Cabinet voted unanimously to grant Paey
a full pardon Thursday morning for his 2004 conviction on drug trafficking
and possession charges.

“We aim to right a wrong and exercise compassion and to do it with grace,”
the governor said. “Congratulations ... and I state he should be released
today.”

With that, Paey’s wife Linda, their three children, a family friend and
attorney John Flannery II hugged and cried at the podium, the entire cabinet
meeting room erupting into applause at 9:40 a.m.

It was a stunning turn in the long saga of Paey, a 48-year-old Hudson man
who suffers debilitating pain from a 1985 car wreck, botched back surgery
and multiple sclerosis that has left him needing the use of a wheelchair in
prison.

He was first arrested in 1997 and convicted on the third try in 2004 of
possessing, trafficking and illegally obtaining the medication he needs for
the searing, fiery pain in his back and legs.

His supporters still contest every bit of the state’s case and today, they
finally found sympathetic ears eager to help. His medical condition is real,
they told the cabinet, evidenced by the amoung of painkillers the Department
of Corrections itself now gives to Richard Paey every day.

What makes Thursday’s development all the more surprising was that the
Florida Parole Commission actually recommended against commuting Paey’s
sentence to time served.

But then Crist allowed Flannery to speak for nearly 30 minutes—much more
than the 5-minute limit. Then the governor allowed Linday Paey, their three
children and even a family friend to speak.

After their emotional presentation, the first comments from the dias came
from the governor:

“I want to move that we grant a full pardon.” All three cabinet members
agreed.

The family had never hoped for a full pardon or even thought to ask. It was
just the start of a day of surprises for Linda Paey and her children.

“I grabbed Jonh’s hand, we came into this so scared, trembling,” she said.
“I was so fearful when I heard the parole commission did not support his
application.

“It was a complete shock,” she said of Crist’s recommending a full pardon
and ordering her husband’s release today. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

She didn’t even know how she would get the news to her husband at Tomoka
Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach: “He’ll be shocked. We’re all
shocked.”

After the cameras left, tears quickly turned to laughter in the atrium
outside as the family spoke about having their father back in their lives.

Flannery, the family and a state official huddled to discuss the logistics
of freeing Richard Paey and driving down to Daytona Beach to pick him up
today and take him home to Pasco County.

SteveInClearwater - 20 September 2007 02:33 PM

Well, They Is Us at the end of the day, so I guess these stories should give us all at least a moment of sober reflection on how we may have contributed to the current state of affairs.

Who we vote for, who we endorse as a candidate for public office and where we choose to speak out against injustice all are factors.

Another common error made by many of us is that we see a societal problem (perhaps “drug abuse") and we cry out to the government to “Fix the problem” using the criminal justice system.

We all need to be smarter.

Damnit...that means ME too.....I hate that some days.

I can respect that answer. I have a question for the group. How can we lower DUI? I go to the Hillsborough county arrest report and they have 100’s of DUI a month. Every-time I read about someone killed in a car wreck and someone gets a DUI, almost always they had 1 or 2 and sometime 3 or more DUI arrest…

That’s a subject worthy of its own thread.  Make it so and I’ll offer a couple ideas that hopefully seem sensible.

Radley Balko reports:

http://www.theagitator.com/archives/028170.php#028170

It is a shame that he did not have the right health care professional to help him in his plight for constant pain. There are many new drugs and they way they are given out there and treatments.

Everyone needs to find the right health care profesisonal for thembefore resorting to illegal activities.

Another waste of taxpayers money when we put someone like this in jail.

J: Everyone needs to find the right health care profesisonal for them before resorting to illegal activities.

SH: The DEA is applying such arbitrary standards against the prescribing of opiod drugs that MDs are becoming (with good reason) terrified to properly medicate chronic pain patients.

Paey didn’t have a particular challenge finding the right provider.  His challenge arose when his need for higher doses of opiods reached a level where MDs were afraid to prescribe for fear of being arrested by the DEA.

Federal charges against MDs for “over-prescribing” lead to 25 year mandatory minimums against the doctor.

How do they know if they have “over-prescribed”?

They cannot know because the DEA refuses to supply MDs with any codified guidelines of maximum levels for opiod scripts.

‘’I feel pretty good. I feel pretty good,’’ he said, squinting in the sunshine from his wheelchair. ``Today was the day for miracles. I didn’t think this day would come.’’

That’s because the 49-year-old felt the system has been stacked against him and his family ever since he was convicted, after three trials, on drug trafficking charges in a 1997 arrest for filling out fake prescriptions for about 700 oxycodone and 400 hydrocodone narcotic painkillers and 320 Valium pills.

The man got a pretty light sentence for forging prescriptions.  I’m glad he is released, the state doesn’t have to pay for his drugs now, let the federal governement pay for them, since he is on disability. 

This is a sad case, but he should have never forged the prescriptions either. 

‘’I’ve changed. I no longer trust the police. I don’t trust the justice system,’’ she said. ``Only the media got our case right.’’

Yes Linda, justice wasn’t served (said sarcastically).  He should have stayed in prison (again, with sarcasm).

lol....Just take off the big nose and glasses disguise now, kid, because your mania has finally busted you yet again.

“The man got a pretty light sentence for forging prescriptions.”

SH: Paey was neither charged with, nor convicted of “forging prescriptions”, so he received no sentence - light or otherwise - for such offenses.

Thanks for the feedback and your agreement that it’s a great day for the Paey family to have their father home.

SteveInClearwater - 26 September 2007 01:50 PM

lol....Just take off the big nose and glasses disguise now, kid, because your mania has finally busted you yet again.

“The man got a pretty light sentence for forging prescriptions.”

SH: Paey was neither charged with, nor convicted of “forging prescriptions”, so he received no sentence - light or otherwise - for such offenses.

Thanks for the feedback and your agreement that it’s a great day for the Paey family to have their father home.

lol, is right.  You’re wrong, in your first sentence. 

I didn’t follow this case, I had no interest in it, and thank you for telling me about no charges for forging those prescriptions for the hundreds of pills he got.  He’s luckier then I thought.  Yes, his kids are very lucky to have their father at home. 

This really is a sad case.

Actually, no one involved in this case is sad any more which is the beauty of the pardon given by Gov Christ.

MAIA SZALAVITZ writes at Reason.com

THE FEDERALIZATION OF MEDICINE

The Pain Issue Shows Why Medical Policy Should Be Left To the States

After three trials (two mistrials), one appeal, and having served more than three years of a mandatory 25 year sentence, pain patient Richard Paey was given a full pardon by Florida Governor Charlie Crist on Sept. 20. Paey had been convicted of “drug trafficking” due to the high doses of opioids he’d been prescribed for pain resulting from multiple sclerosis and failed back surgery in the aftermath of a car accident.

Even though three months of surveillance produced no evidence he had sold or given away any medication, and even though he’d been prescribed the same dosages for years, the weight of the drugs alone (which, ironically, mostly contained acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol) was enough to provoke the mandatory minimum sentence.

While Paey was in prison, officials refilled a morphine pump that he had fitted during the course of the proceedings. That pump, paid for by the state of Florida, delivered over the course of each 48 hour period a larger dose of opioid medication than Paey had been convicted of possessing in the first place.

Strangely, Florida’s parole board recommended against even commuting Paey’s sentence to time served. But Gov. Crist and his cabinet saw Paey’s case for the injustice it was, and unanimously voted to grant him a full pardon. One of those cabinet members, Attorney General Bill McCollum, a long-time supporter of mandatory minimum sentences, said during the hearing, “This is not a pleasant case. Our laws are very much to blame.”

Paey’s is only one of the most egregious cases of injustice resulting from a recent crackdown on “prescription drug abuse.” Dozens of doctors have also been charged with trafficking, and the overwhelming majority have been convicted or taken pleas, even when there was no evidence that they profited from drug sales or intended to provide highs to addicts. The initiative has been pushed in the media and through the courts by the DEA and the Justice Department starting with the Oxycontin hysteria of 2001.

Siobhan Reynolds, the founder of the advocacy group Pain Relief Network who brought the Paey case to national attention, spots a pattern in the few victories pain patients and doctors have won. She notes that the doctors who avoided conviction and patients who ultimately received justice had all been charged at the state level, not in federal courts.

<SNIPPED> remainder at Reason.com

http://www.reason.com/news/show/122800.html

SH: Ms Szalavitz is the author of Help At Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids (Riverhead, 2006) which includes detailed coverage of the sexual and other violent abuse waged against teenagers by the STRAIGHT program of St Petersburg FL and financed by Melvin and Betty Sembler of Treasure Island.

Sembler is currently employed as the primary fundraiser for the 2008 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney. 

More on that insidious relationship here: http://www.reason.com/news/show/121088.html

A couple of very supportive letters for Paey, via the St Petersburg Times last week:

US FL: PUB LTE: Pardon Of Richard Paey

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1105.a02.html

US FL: PUB LTE: A Dumb Law

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1105.a04.html