Posted on 05/09/2006 5:18:22 PM PDT by neverdem
Now that Rush Limbaugh has managed to keep himself out of prison, the punishment he once advocated for drug abusers, let me suggest a new cause for him: speaking out for people who can handle their OxyContin.
Like Limbaugh, Richard Paey suffers severe back pain. Also like Limbaugh, he was accused of illegally obtaining large quantities of painkillers. Florida authorities zealously pursued them for years.
Unlike Limbaugh, Paey went to prison. He’s serving the third year of a 25-year term. His wife told me that when he heard how Limbaugh settled his case last week — by agreeing to pay $30,000 and submit to drug tests — Paey offered a simple explanation: “The wealthy and influential go to rehab, while the poor and powerless go to prison.”
He has a point, although I don’t think that’s the crucial distinction between the cases. Paey stood up for his belief that patients in pain should be able to get the medicine they need. Limbaugh so far hasn’t stood up for any consistent principle except his right to stay out of jail.
He has portrayed himself as the victim of a politically opportunistic prosecutor determined to bag a high-profile trophy, which is probably true. But that’s standard operating procedure in the drug war supported by Limbaugh and his fellow conservatives.
Drug agents and prosecutors are desperate for headlines because they have so little else to show for their work. The drug war costs $35 billion a year and has yet to demonstrate any clear long-term benefits — precisely the kind of government boondoggle that conservatives like Limbaugh ought to view skeptically.
Yet conservatives go on giving more money and more power to the drug cops. When critics complained about threats to civil liberties in the USA Patriot Act, President Bush defended it by...
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
< \THREAD HIJACK>
"Sounds like he was more than just a user.'
Post 12 "Paey is serving prison time for drug distribution not because he's guilty of actually distributing drugs — the state admits as much"
Feudal Lord Vincente whose drug traffic profits would be severely curtailed doesn't want border security ... hint, hint, hint
I'm afraid it's just petty, vindictive bureaucrats in Florida's Dept. of Corrections. Thanks for posting the story.
Actually, I think the prosecutors did get to see Limbaugh's medical records. If there was anything in them that they could have used against Rush, I believe they would have.
That doesn't seem right to me either. Could be more to it, maybe he's a repeat offender or the drugs were harder.
Well, 25 years in jail for a disabled man with a legitimate need for painkillers ought to show him real good!
Jebby needs to spring this man ASAP.
Looks like they were making an example out of him for not taking a plea bargain. 25 years is way out of line unless he had prior convictions.
This guy seems to have a problem with Rush skating. I wonder how he feels about Patches.
If there were a case against Rush Limbaugh the prosecutor would not have agreed to the "plea".
Case closed.
Get a life, Mr. Tierney.
This post is pretty lame, which is it ,Limbaugh or the drug cops you after or will any ole' conservative do.
Me thinks! the whole story hasn't been told>
The wealth and the powerful hired big shot legal talent and spend millions to fight the system. It has NOTHING to do with anything other then the basic corruption of our legal system. Justice may be blind, she is also a hooker available to the buyer who can meet her price.
Probably, he should appeal it.
The sentence this guy got handed to him is insane! Unless there is more that's unknown here, be basically got sent to prison for 25 years for trying to get his pain relieved. Unless it's a pain clinic, doctors almost never prescribe anywhere near enough medicine to help a patient deal with such things, I know this from experience. Sometimes it seems they are more concerned with liability issues than helping people who really need it.
Justice wasn't served in this case. No one was harmed. This guy may have violated some man made laws, but I don't see how he can go to prison longer than most child molesters and many murderers.
WOD insanity ping.
The Salvation Army is a great source of free rehabilitation and after placement programs.
If the guy truly needed pain medication then I don't understand his logic that he needed to go to rehab that he could not afford. How did he afford the drugs from the pharmacy or was he buying them off the street?
About as much as George Bush...
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