Jim
04-15-2004, 11:31 AM
From WWW.DRCNET.ORG (http://WWW.DRCNET.ORG)
A terrible injustice has taken place in the state of Florida, and
I am writing to ask you to take action today to help to fix it.
You may have read in our newsletter last week about Richard Paey,
a patient from New Port Richey who is facing a 25-year mandatory
minimum sentence for doing what he needed to do to get needed
opioid medicine to relieve his severe, chronic pain. It took
district attorney Bernie McCabe seven years to get his blood, and
there is reason to believe he may have facilitated perjury to
finally succeed after bringing Paey to trial a third time
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/332/paey.shtml).
Paey is facing his sentencing hearing tomorrow, and I'm writing
to ask you to contact McCabe's office in protest (information
below), and to send a letter of protest to Gov. Jeb Bush. We
have created an online web form to help you do so, at
http://stopthedrugwar.org/floridainpain/ -- if you are from
Florida, it will also send your letter to your elected members of
the state legislature. In addition to asking that Paey be freed
immediately, the letter asks the legislature to vote no on Gov.
Bush's proposed Prescription Drug Monitoring Bill -- which would
make it easier for McCabe and his fellow DAs to go after innocent
patients and doctors -- and to repeal Florida's mandatory
sentencing laws that may bring Richard Paey 25 years -- a
sentence that would be absurd even if he were a truly guilty man.
In addition to sending your letter online, please call McCabe's
office at (727) 847-8158 and send him a letter at P.O. Box 5028,
Clearwater, FL 33758. The person taking the calls will claim
that you can only write and not leave a message by phone, but
we're pretty sure that McCabe will be informed if thousands of
people who are horrified by what he's done to Richard Paey tie up
his office's phone lines. You may also want to check out an
editorial published recently by the St. Petersburg Times,
criticizing the Paey prosecution. Consider sending a supportive
letter to the editor:
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/04/05/Opinion/From_painkillers_to_p.shtml (article)
http://connect.sptimes.com/contactus/letterstoeditor.html (letter instructions)
The Pain Relief Network has an extensive section devoted to Paey
at http://www.painreliefnetwork.org/default.asp?id=45&mnu=45
online. Visit http://www.PainReliefNetwork.org to find out more
about their important work.
Those of you in the Washington, DC area might want to check out
the pain patients' March on Washington, this Sunday through
Tuesday, April 18-20. Visit http://www.paincoalition.us for
further information.
Sincerely,
David Borden, Executive Director
StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network
http://stopthedrugwar.org
... http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif...
A terrible injustice has taken place in the state of Florida, and
I am writing to ask you to take action today to help to fix it.
You may have read in our newsletter last week about Richard Paey,
a patient from New Port Richey who is facing a 25-year mandatory
minimum sentence for doing what he needed to do to get needed
opioid medicine to relieve his severe, chronic pain. It took
district attorney Bernie McCabe seven years to get his blood, and
there is reason to believe he may have facilitated perjury to
finally succeed after bringing Paey to trial a third time
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/332/paey.shtml).
Paey is facing his sentencing hearing tomorrow, and I'm writing
to ask you to contact McCabe's office in protest (information
below), and to send a letter of protest to Gov. Jeb Bush. We
have created an online web form to help you do so, at
http://stopthedrugwar.org/floridainpain/ -- if you are from
Florida, it will also send your letter to your elected members of
the state legislature. In addition to asking that Paey be freed
immediately, the letter asks the legislature to vote no on Gov.
Bush's proposed Prescription Drug Monitoring Bill -- which would
make it easier for McCabe and his fellow DAs to go after innocent
patients and doctors -- and to repeal Florida's mandatory
sentencing laws that may bring Richard Paey 25 years -- a
sentence that would be absurd even if he were a truly guilty man.
In addition to sending your letter online, please call McCabe's
office at (727) 847-8158 and send him a letter at P.O. Box 5028,
Clearwater, FL 33758. The person taking the calls will claim
that you can only write and not leave a message by phone, but
we're pretty sure that McCabe will be informed if thousands of
people who are horrified by what he's done to Richard Paey tie up
his office's phone lines. You may also want to check out an
editorial published recently by the St. Petersburg Times,
criticizing the Paey prosecution. Consider sending a supportive
letter to the editor:
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/04/05/Opinion/From_painkillers_to_p.shtml (article)
http://connect.sptimes.com/contactus/letterstoeditor.html (letter instructions)
The Pain Relief Network has an extensive section devoted to Paey
at http://www.painreliefnetwork.org/default.asp?id=45&mnu=45
online. Visit http://www.PainReliefNetwork.org to find out more
about their important work.
Those of you in the Washington, DC area might want to check out
the pain patients' March on Washington, this Sunday through
Tuesday, April 18-20. Visit http://www.paincoalition.us for
further information.
Sincerely,
David Borden, Executive Director
StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network
http://stopthedrugwar.org
... http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif...