A wheelchair-bound man with multiple sclerosis is getting out of a Daytona Beach prison.

Richard Paey was serving 25 years on drug trafficking charges, but Thursday Florida's clemency board said he should be released.

"They call it justice, and that's what we're doing today.  We aim to right a wrong and to exercise compassion and to do it with grace," said Gov. Charlie Crist.

Paey, 48, served 3 1/2 years of his sentence.

Because of a botched operation after a car accident 20 years ago, Payee grapples with chronic pain that is so bad that the powerful medication oxycodone became a way of life.

But he had to take so much of it, he was convicted of drug trafficking -- having too much medication without a valid prescription.

His supporters said he needs the large amount of pill just to live normally

Until Thursday, his wife, Linda, had gotten nothing but bad news.

"We came in with an unfavorable parole commission finding, so we're scared to death.  We're all crying because we know it's our last chance," Linda Paey said.

Paey's case could jumpstart a national movement to ensure painkillers aren't villainized.

Proponents of the a law against overuse of painkillers is that the law treats all drugs the same. The government is urging a full assault on painkillers.

Under Florida law, Paey's oxycodone was equal to a stash of cocaine.

After he was locked up, the state gave Paey morphine -- a much more powerful drug.

Paey's lawyer, John Flannery, argued that the war on drugs has given painkillers a bad rap.

"We've been taught two things -- that we have too much medication and that it's prescribed unnecessarily. But then, in these cases, we move to another level. We say somebody's getting it illegally," Flannery said.

Even if that does happen, Flannery wants lawmakers to focus on lighter penalties.

As America's baby boomers age and pain becomes a major issue, what is happening with Paey might become a landmark moment.

The Paey family said they are also concerned about returning Iraq war veterans with chronic pain. They said criminalizing painkillers means fewer doctors are willing to write the prescriptions vets might need.