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. But Florida officials say he was buying too much of the drug for personal use. In an interview Monday, Paey's wife, Linda, said three months of police surveillance revealed no evidence that Paey was selling drugs, but police were able to charge him with drug trafficking anyway, under Florida laws that don't require evidence of actual sale. [continues 839 words]
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP -- Heroin calls. It doesn't call softly. When it's leaving your system, your body aches, your nose runs, your eyes run and your skin crawls. You'll do anything to end the misery. Anything for another hit. "(When you're high), you don't feel; you don't care about anything," recalls Jennifer Hansen, who was addicted to heroin in her early 20s. "You notice time passing, but you really don't care. Heroin is such a physical addiction that you can't live without it." [continues 620 words]
BETHANY - After more than two years behind bars, recovering narcotics addict Kathleen White figured she'd paid her debt to society. She was wrong. In early January, White received an unexpected correspondence from the state Department of Administrative Services: an itemized bill for $67,165, which the Department of Correction says was the cost of her incarcerations. "I'd heard about that, but I didn't think they'd do it to anyone who didn't win the lottery," White said ruefully during an interview at her mother's home in Bethany. "How dare (they) charge me to be treated like a dog?" [continues 916 words]
