this is your war on drugs

[yukoncpa]

What occured during the SWAT team raid:

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"They had guns and ski masks and, like, five, six people ran into the house and half of them took the kids and my mother in law. And the other one grabbed me," says Linda Paey. "And Rich kept on saying, 'Please, call my doctor. Can you call my doctor?' You know? 'Everything's fine. Call my doctor

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(See my 60 minutes link above for details)

[John Kilduff]

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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.


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Mandatory sentencing laws are criminal and should be removed from our legal code.

[canis582]

The independence of the judicial system is under attack by reactionaries that you support, john.

[John Kilduff]

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The independence of the judicial system is under attack by reactionaries that you support, john.

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I'm not sure what you mean, how is it under attack? And what reactionaries do I support? I can't think of any unless you might mean Ron Paul; I support Ron Paul. Do you consider him a reactionary?

[adios]

As much as I feel for a guy in this position, my first thought was to wonder why he couldn't get medication?

but in the interview he states:

Paey: .... I was convicted because the prosecutor hammered away at the jury that I was an addict and that my doctor was a pusher. I was sort of blindsided when the prosecutor started to make that argument—that I was nothing more than an addict. I can’t think of a worse slur to attach to a person.

So apparently he was getting medicaiton.

In the next question:

Paey: Right. It became a comedy of bureaucracies. One agency prosecutes me for taking too much medication. And that was their explanation—that my dose was too high for one person to be taking, therefore I must be selling it. Even though they conceded they had no evidence of that. Then I get to prison, and the doctors examine my records and my medical history, and they decide that as doctors, they have to give me this medication, and in fact it was in higher doses than what I’d been getting before.

It certainly was an irony that I was prosecuted for taking too much medication, then the state went ahead and gave me more once I was in prison. And I think that irony made many people take a second look at my situation. It raised a red flag in many peoples’ minds that something strange was going on, here.


If the account is true then that is sad really. It does seem like there's a very a high chance he had a crummy lawyer. I would sure like to hear the other side of this story though i.e. the prosecuters side and see what came out in the trial.

This is starting to make a little more sense to me now. I have a friend who for several reasons had a doctor at the VA prescribing pain killers for various ailments. This had been going on for a long time. He got a new doctor and they gave him a drug test. He tested positive for pot and the doctor stated that he could get his meds but he would have to undergo periodic random drug tests. My friend refused the tests and decided to go without the pain killers. I never realized he was taking so many as I know he went through a withdrawl period. There's a real concern about people abusing their subscriptions by taking the pills to get high and/or selling them. In my friends case I'm sure the doctor was concerned about that. Whether he should be or not is another matter but this is starting to sound similar to what my friend went through.

One further point:

reason: Are you getting the medication you need?

Paey: Well, at some point we’re going to have a cash crisis. When I got out of prison, I went down to Social Security, and they said they’d never seen a pardon before. Before I went to prison, I was getting Social Security disability, and was on Medicare A and B. Well, when you get convicted of a felony and go to prison, you lose all of those benefits. They’re not really sure how to handle it—if the pardon makes me eligible again or not. They’re now telling us that it may not be until next June until they know. That was terrible news.


Don't think what he says here is right:

What Prisoners Should Know About Social Security

[natedogg]

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It does seem like there's a very a high chance he had a crummy lawyer.

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Obviously, he shouldn't have even needed to have a lawyer in the first place.

The bottom line is, the guy ended up in prison for having too many pain pills. It's not any of our business how many pain pills he's got. The drug war is ludicrous and these edge cases illustrate that (although he's not that much of an edge case. the drug war could almost be subtitled "the war on pain doctors" these days).

I haven't even started ranting about how unnecessary and oppressive prescription laws are in the first place. They are simply an extension of the destructive drug war.

natedogg

[adios]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It does seem like there's a very a high chance he had a crummy lawyer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Obviously, he shouldn't have even needed to have a lawyer in the first place.

The bottom line is, the guy ended up in prison for having too many pain pills. It's not any of our business how many pain pills he's got. The drug war is ludicrous and these edge cases illustrate that (although he's not that much of an edge case. the drug war could almost be subtitled "the war on pain doctors" these days).

I haven't even started ranting about how unnecessary and oppressive prescription laws are in the first place. They are simply an extension of the destructive drug war.

natedogg

[/ QUOTE ]

First of all I'd like to hear the other side in this case. According to one of the posters in this thread he was picked up for forging Dr.'s signatures on prescriptions. I'm fairly certain he knew if he got caught he would be in trouble. I guess what you're saying is that anyone should be able to get any kind of drug/medication anytime they want at anytime. Ok.

Haven't heard anything about what his doctor in NJ said. Haven't heard anything about what doctors in Florida said. Haven't heard or read anything about what came out at the trial. Sorry but I think this is a one sided report so I'm reserving judgement. But it sounds to me like this probably an unremarkable story most likely. If you were opposed to the conduct of the "war on drugs" you'd still be opposed and if you weren't opposed you still wouldn't be. I've heard of worse trangressions by the legal system.

And as far as his shouldn't have had to go to trial. People go to trial all the time U.S. that probably shouldn't be in a trial. Part of deal with living here. Expecting perfection from the legal system is an expectation that is way to high IMO.

BTW my wife had breast cancer in the late nineties and I was forced to break the law in obtaining pot to get her through chemo. I think that the government is totally screwed up with many drug laws. I wasn't into pot at all at the time either and neither was she.

[Ineedaride2]

[ QUOTE ]



BTW my wife had breast cancer in the late nineties and I was forced to break the law in obtaining pot to get her through chemo. I think that the government is totally screwed up with many drug laws. I wasn't into pot at all at the time either and neither was she.

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When I was in high school, my mother wanted me to get her some pot for a friend of hers that had breast cancer.

I'd never smoked it, and couldn't get any. Had it been two years later, I could've gotten her all she wanted - at dealer prices.

These days, I couldn't get any again.

Funny how the tide shifts.

[Case Closed]

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When I was in high school, my mother wanted me to get her some pot for a friend of hers that had breast cancer.

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I hate to derail the thread, but what kind of sally high school did you go to where you could not find any pot? I never smoked during high school and I knew tons of people I could go to, explain that story, and they would be willing to help me out. Nothing against you, it just seems like pot is super prevalent in our society, despite the laws which try and hold it back.

[Misfire]

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I guess what you're saying is that anyone should be able to get any kind of drug/medication anytime they want at anytime.

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Yes.

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BTW my wife had breast cancer in the late nineties and I was forced to break the law in obtaining pot to get her through chemo.

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^^^ And this is why.

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Haven't heard anything about what his doctor in NJ said. Haven't heard anything about what doctors in Florida said. Haven't heard or read anything about what came out at the trial. Sorry but I think this is a one sided report so I'm reserving judgement. But it sounds to me like this probably an unremarkable story most likely.

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What the doctors think is irrelevant. They don't own the man's body. I was reading something recently that compared doctors to lawyers. Lawyers, while they deal with incredbly important issues (sometimes even involving life and death), they only play an advisory role. Clients always have the freedom to proceed against their lawyers' wishes or without consulting a lawyer at all. Doctors, however, take a parental role, with the power to deny a specific course of action to one of their patients. Why should this be the case? Why shouldn't someone be allowed to go against his doctor's advice and take such-and-such medication?