[ QUOTE ]
If you're not sickened by the drug war yet you're not paying attention.
[/ QUOTE ]
I once knew a fellow in California with severe pain who, because of tolerance buildup with opiates, was up to taking 20 vicodin a day; apparently something not uncommon and something that his doctor was fine with.
Richard Paey, an Ivy league School graduate, was in the same predicament. His New Jersey doctor was fine with prescribing him with ample pain killers but when he moved to Florida, doctors there told him he was screwed, as the DEA was keeping close tabs on Doctors. Paey’s New Jersey Doctor kept him in prescriptions but Paey got to the point where he forged his Doctor’s prescriptions. He explained that his pain was unrelenting and he needed relief daily as opposed to sometimes having to wait for an out of state doctor for help.
After staking out his house, law enforcement officials found no evidence of him selling drugs to anyone. He simply had possession of an un-prescribed bottle and a record of taking 18,000 pills, which amounted to just over 20 a day personal consumption over a two year period of time - an amount, authorities insisted provided proof that he was a seller. Paey explained that without these pills, he would have been bed bound and in extreme pain. The pills allowed him to lead an almost normal life.
Because of mandatory sentencing laws, the Florida judge was compelled to sentence him for 25 years.
60 minutes