Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2007
Subject: #354 Chronic Pain Patient Pardoned!
CHRONIC PAIN PATIENT PARDONED!
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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #354 – Saturday, 22 Sep 2007
On Thursday, Sep 20, in a 4-0 vote, Florida Governor Charlie Crist and
the Florida Cabinet issued a full pardon to chronic pain patient
Richard Paey. He was serving a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years
for a “drug trafficking” conviction when in fact he sold no drugs illegally.
Please read what happened in his own words at http://www.november.org/thewall/cases/paey-r/paey-r.html
Paey had served almost four years during which time his family and
attorneys filed multiple unsuccessful appeals up to the level of the
Florida Supreme Court. His last possibility at having his sentence
commuted was thus laid in the hands of Governor Crist and the Cabinet.
Together, these four men made their unanimous decision after just 40
minutes to not only commute Paey’s sentence, but to give him a 100%
pardon of his misguided conviction.
Millions suffer needless pain because of federal and state laws and
those who enforce them get between doctors and patients.
Florida law currently deems prison cells to be a suitable location for
otherwise law-abiding citizens whose only ‘crime’ is having one or
more medical conditions which call for treatment with opiod drugs.
Such misguided laws and policies will only be changed when enough
citizens stand up and demand change. The best way to do that is to
contact your state and federal elected officials and to educate your
local media.
Please consider sending a Letter to the Editor of the St. Petersburg
Times – the largest newspaper in Florida and the newspaper closest to
Paey’s home. Their Friday coverage is here: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1081.a04.html
Please also consider sending letters to other newspapers which are
covering this story. News clippings, with new clippings being added
daily, may be found at http://www.mapinc.org/people/Richard+Paey
Thanks for your effort and support.
It’s not what others do it’s what YOU do.
Richard thanks the many organizations and individuals who supported
him. In a message to the November Coalition http://www.november.org/
he wrote:
Tom & Nora & My Good Friends at TNC:
Free at last!
Free at last!
And it wouldn’t have happened without TNC.
I struggle to find the words.
Thank you so very much.
Sincerely,
Richard Paey
Former Florida Prisoner #R29228
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Additional suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center:
http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides
Or contact MAP’s Media Activism Facilitator for personal tips on how
to write LTEs that get printed.
heath@mapinc.org
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Prepared by: The MAP Media Activism Team www.mapinc.org/resource
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