Drug War Injustice

[SHRED]

Richard Paey a wheelchair-bound man who had committed the exact same crimes as Rush Limbaugh was sentenced to 25 years in prison back in 2004.

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"Richard Paey is in a wheelchair because of a severe spinal injury. Without constant medication he is in excruciating pain. It was pain that put him on the path to prison.

"I felt like my legs were being dipped into a furnace," says Paey. "They were burning, and I couldn't move them. It's an intense pain that, over time, will literally drive you to suicide."

-snip-

In the end, while there was no evidence Paey was selling drugs, under Florida law, the possession of just one bottle of illegally obtained painkillers — just 28 grams — is considered drug trafficking, which carries a higher penalty than trafficking in much larger amounts of cocaine.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/25/60minutes/main1238202.shtml

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"A former Hammonton man serving a 25-year sentence in Florida for possessing prescription narcotics has taken his case to CBS's "60 Minutes." Richard Paey, 47, was convicted last year of drug trafficking for possessing a large quantity of prescription narcotics. He says he needed the medicine to alleviate the excruciating pain caused by a car crash and subsequent botched back surgery."

-snip-

The November Coalition is pushing to revamp drug laws that call for mandatory minimum sentences, saying there's a double standard for people such as Paey and people such as Rush Limbaugh and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter Noelle, whose addictions to prescription drugs have been highly publicized but have not earned them lengthy prison terms."

http://www.november.org/stayinfo/breaking06/PaeyNJ.html

[ixion]

1. the so-called 'War on Drugs' is a scam

always has been.

In the 20+ years since Ray-Gun started it, it's done NOTHING more than be used as an excuse to erode civil liberties and beef up the privatized prison industry. It HAS succeeded in ruining the lives of millions of non-violent pot smokers, under the guise of 'helping' them. :grr:

[Asgaya Dihi]

2. I never could figure that out

Why do people blame Reagan for the war on drugs? Personally I always traced it back to Nixon and the Controlled Substances Act, looking at the rate of our prison growth between 1925 and 2002 we held roughly level with population growth through the early 70's then started a trend of explosive growth which we're still on today. That's when we created the "schedule one" class of drugs instead of tax stamps or other controls. Charts showing that roughly 1/4 way down the following document http://www.sentencingproject.org/pdfs/pub9036.pdf

Actually that's how some like to describe legalization. It just means getting rid of schedule one so we have other options, not necessarily free use.

[ixion]

3. well, you could also say that it goes back to the Harrison Narcotic Act

of 1933.

The reason I place it during Reagan's admin, is because they're the ones responsible for coining the term 'War on Drugs' in an official sense. Under Reagan, we saw the introduction of so-called 'Zero Tolerance' and a host of other drug-related legisation, including the creation of the 'Drug Czar' post.

Sure, I understand what you're saying, and believe you've got an argument there. I guess you could place that marker just about anywhere. ;-)

[Asgaya Dihi]

4. Good points

Didn't mean to nitpick at the timeline, was more curious as to why people placed it there ;)

I've never considered it to be the Harrison act mostly because it never resulted in much in terms of "war" rather than just random damage. Wasn't till Nixon that we kicked it into high gear and tried to make the stuff go away rather than to regulate it, though badly at the time. Heck, till the 50's or so truckers still ran on speed instead of on coffee and now many seem to think it's always been illegal.

I can see the point with Reagan though, Carter didn't stop it but it wasn't too bad and it did step up a bit during Reagan.

[sweetheart]

7. Nixon is the DEA one

who is well on record for stepping up the war to imprison his political opposition.

Nixon was when the drugs war became a political war, and drugs prisoners became political prisoners.

The intenese erosions of privacy and police search powers were done in the 70's.. or begun is perhaps a
better word, as ongoing erosion of privacy and the presumption of innocense has been the record as the
DEA has stepped up the war to imprison opposition voters.

[WindRavenX]

5. remember:

just say no :P

:smoke:

[Turtlebah]

6. No,

just say sow :patriot: