I am a chronic pain sufferer and I sit with tears of joy over this news. No one, absolutely no one should have to be in constant, overwhelmning, debilitating pain in our country when there are ways to grant relief to them. Finding a Dr. who is not scared of losing their license is damn near impossible in the political climate we live in. One of the most damning cases in recent history is the case of Richard Paey. This pardon is a major victory for chronic sufferers across our nation.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - A disabled former attorney who said he needed large amounts of drugs to numb his pain was released from prison Thursday after the governor and the rest of the state clemency board pardoned his drug trafficking charges.
Richard Paey, 48, learned Thursday he’d be released after four years. He expected to die in jail, and credited Gov. Charlie Crist and national advocacy groups with helping free him.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
These days we so seldom have much to celebrate, but today I believe we should take a moment or 2 to do just that. Richard has been put thru hell over the last 4 yrs or more because of his health and the mandatory sentencing laws. This pardon is only a small but important step. There is still much work to do to free us from the police state mindset about chronic pain sufferers. Before I get too far into that let me give you a little of Richards story from 2004.
"You know when you have a toothache and the pain is so severe that you absolutely have to be seen immediately by a dentist?" says the man in the wheelchair. "Imagine if you had to grin and bear it for an undetermined period of time. You can’t see straight. You think you’ll pass out, and sometimes you do. And sometimes you pray you will."
Richard Paey, chronic pain patient, is describing how bad his body can hurt. He suffers from what is often called "failed back syndrome," an inoperable condition that has sentenced him to a life of pain that most of us hopefully will never have to comprehend. This is not his only sentence. On March 5, he was convicted of 15 counts of drug trafficking, obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and possession of a controlled substance, which earned him a mandatory minimum of 25 years in state prison and a $500,000 fine...
Richard Paey knows agony. One afternoon last month, his muffled words echoed through the dank visitors room at the Pasco County jail. He spoke to me through thick glass. His once-athletic body, ravaged by nearly two decades of intractable pain and five years of multiple sclerosis, sat hunched into a crude wheelchair.http://www.painreliefnetwork.org/...
Before you run off to read the articles, or comment, let's take a min. to recognize some of our own Kossacks that may have played a important part in this pardon. Back on June 28th Kossack Izzzy wrote a diary asking for action to Richard get this pardon. I'm sure that diary and the calls and letters it generated had a positive effect toward getting Richard free. You can view that diary, Action Alert: Imprisoned pain patient needs public support and allow yourself to see that we here a dkos do some wonderfully positive things that do great works.
Our work is not done on this issue. Their are other horror storys out there that could use our action. I wrote about one back in June that could still use lots of help I'm sure. If you want those details, my diary can be read here. Chronic Pain ? Time To Stand Up To The DEA, Action Time Is At Hand
I will close with a statement from my diary, call it a call to action if you will. Nothing is hopeless if we work together and don't give up. Something we need to remember as we watch what is happening with the war and so many other things.
We, the citizens of the United States of America, are suffering under the police state of
medicine. And as all of this is happening within the doctor/patient relationship, under
cover of the US War On Prescription Drug Abuse, the brutalization of our ill population
is unseen, their weakened voices barely audible. However, their degradation is deeply
felt, indeed, many patients in pain have not survived. We are here from PRN, in the
memory of those who have died, and most urgently on behalf of those who cling to life to
ask, most sincerely, for your help in stopping this as soon as possible.