25-Year Sentence for Medication

http://www.reason.com/news/show/123589.html

Richard Paey was sentenced to 25 years in a Florida prison for possessing too many opiates. Prosecutors in the case said he was an addict; that no person could consume that many opiates and he must be selling them. The prosecutors in the case admitted they did not have any evidence that he was selling drugs, they just assumed it because he had so many. Due to the high profile nature of the case he was pardoned by the Governor of Florida (Charlie Crist). He had served 4 years and quite a few days in solitary confinement.

On a rather ironic and perverse note, when he got to prison the doctors gave him more drugs than he was taking when he was arrested. The prosecutors, who weren’t doctors, said he couldn’t possibly be using that many drugs for medical purposes. And the doctors in the prison said he needed more drugs. I’m not a doctor, I don’t know how much drugs he really needed, but he’s the patient he should decide that with his doctor.

He said something very poignant in the interview with Reason magazine.

“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.”

“I can’t think of a worse slur (addict) to attach to a person.” I began to think in modern society he’s probably right. Not because there aren’t worse people than addicts. If someone calls you fat, lazy, stupid, a nigger, or a kike they have no more power over you than what you give them. However there are certain labels that the user can use that do have power, addict being one of them. If someone calls you an addict and they can convince the right people of that they can take your rights away. It’s sad that in America the term addict, which is basically a sick person, is now synonymous with criminal.