Quoting:
In case anyone missed it, Rush admitted today on his show that he was indeed addicted to the highly addictive pain-killer Oxycontin.  And effective Monday, he will be in his 3rd attempt at drug rehab.


I wasn't going to bring this up here, but I assumed since some here hate his guts, I might as well bring it out in the open and save them the trouble.


Let me start by saying this:  Addiction, whether its to drugs or alchohol IS an illness.  And is out of the hands of the person.  


And already today on a local radio talk station, I heard some people crucifying Rush because of his addiction.  Whenever I hear someone crucifying someone because of and addiction they have, my blood boils.  

Addiction IS and illness.  And nobody condemns a person for suffering an illness, so why an addiction?  If you hate Rush for what he does for a living, or what he says on his show, or what he stands for politically, fine.  Thats your right.  His job is fair game.  But when you condemn him because of an addiction he is suffering from that is not only wrong, but also cheap and classlesss.  And when I heard some people say such things today as "oh well its all payback for what he has said..."  and "he deserves it...", my blood boiled.


I am a recovering alcoholic, and have been through 2 drug rehab sessions in the last 15 years, luckily the 2nd drug rehab session worked, and the alcohol rehab is working thus far, in fact it took extreme circumstances to convince me I needed help.  So if an addiction is a crime, then guilty as charged.  But I feel addicts desevre a chance at help rather than condemnation.

Regarding his possible purchase of the medication illegally, according to early reports, the FL Attorney General has eported he is not the focus of any criminal charges.

There are some poeple in life I have met that I totally despise.  But, even though I don't personally like them, I would NEVER wish or make light of something like this on them.  I wish no harm on anyone, no matter how much I might disagree with them.  Thats why I was so angry when I heard people calling in to the radio station today saying they were glad this happened to him.

I am not writing this as a Rush fan, although I do listen occasionally, I am not an everyday listener and follower.  I am writing as a human being who HAS been in his positian.

I just hope Rush's critics will put their hatred towards the guy aside, and wish him well in recovery.  After all, just like all of us, he is human, whether you like what he says on the air or not.

That's a very thoughtful piece you've just written, and I respect your opinion. But Limbaugh should be eating his words now. He's said some really nasty things about drug addicts.
But will he modify any of his hard line opinions about drug addicts (e.g. "throw 'em all in jail")? I'm really not holding my breath.

But I do wish him the best.
After all...he's fun to kick around. (kidding)


End Quote

Quoting:
It is his hypocrisy I abhor. He knew he was an addict and yet he publicly blasted any and all addicts several times during his career.

This is as much of an objective opinion I can give on this matter. I just needed to get my 2 cents in.

Another point is that there is currently a criminal investigation into his illegal purchases in Palm Beach, Florida.

A prescription drug obtained without a doctor's prescription is just as illegal as scoring heroin from an unlicensed dealer on a street corner.

Friday :: October 03, 2003


Rush Limbaugh Hires Roy Black

Rush Limbaugh has retained famed Miami criminal defense lawyer Roy Black to represent him in connection with the Palm Beach drug investigation into his alleged purchases of painkillers.
End Quote

Quoting:
Rush didn't think addiction was an illness and he was pretty hard on drug addicts. It's the hypocracy that gets me. Do you think he might change his tune now that he has to deal with his own addiction?
End Quote

Possibly.

Either he was:

1.  In total denial of his addiction (a common thing with addicts of all kinds)

or

2.  Afraid of the reaction he would get from his fans/family/friends by "coming out" so-to-speak with his addiction.



Something to think about before erecting the cross.

Quoting:
Yes, Rush is a very optspoken person about illegal drug use.  But also, he has mostly spoken against ILLEGAL drugs, IE Marijuanna, Coke, Herion, speed, etc.  He is a major critic of legalization, and I agree with him there 100%
End Quote

I have to mention that Rush's drugs are also ILLEGAL when aquired without prescription.  And lets not forget what brought this all to light, the investigation of his house keeper aquiring them ILLEGALLY for him.  

Quoting:

I have to mention that Rush's drugs are also ILLEGAL when aquired without prescription.
End Quote

That's right, Race. It's like my possibly overlooked (pasted) quote in my earlier post:

A prescription drug obtained without a doctor's prescription is just as illegal as scoring heroin from an unlicensed dealer on a street corner.

I'd read earlier in the thread that someone admired Rush for his honesty in admitting to his addiction. Unfortunately, he wasn't honest about anything until he was forced to "come clean" due to the fact that he'd been exposed (and with proof to boot). His PR had to work very hard to make him successfully look like a victim who needs sympathy instead of scorn.

Quoting:


That's right, Race. It's like my possibly overlooked (pasted) quote in my earlier post:

A prescription drug obtained without a doctor's prescription is just as illegal as scoring heroin from an unlicensed dealer on a street corner.

I'd read earlier in the thread that someone admired Rush for his honesty in admitting to his addiction. Unfortunately, he wasn't honest about anything until he was forced to "come clean" due to the fact that he'd been exposed (and with proof to boot). His PR had to work very hard to make him successfully look like a victim who needs sympathy instead of scorn.
End Quote

Agreed, his PR did a great job.  This  ::)"sincere and remorseful confession" ranks right up there with Clinton coming clean when he found out there was a dirty dress to worry about.
Addiction is addiction and everyone that wants help should have support, but people should relize that Rush's addiction isn't any less or more then anyones elses.  

Quoting:

This  ::)"sincere and remorseful confession" ranks right up there with Clinton coming clean when he found out there was a dirty dress to worry about.End Quote

Yeap.

Quoting:
Addiction is addiction and everyone that wants help should have support, but people should relize that Rush's addiction isn't any less or more then anyones elses.  
End Quote

Agreed. I also think Rush should show more empathy (in his future speeches) for drug addicts in general being as how he's now, officially, one of them.

Quoting:
Well, let's not all forge tthat often the most unforgiving person is somebody that has been there.

End Quote

Quoting:Well, let's not all forge tthat often the most unforgiving person is somebody that has been there.
End Quote

What does this mean?  Maybe an excuse for Rush come down harder on addicts when he's done with treatment?  That people that have dealt with the problem have little tolerance for current users?  That empathy is often loss in the process of recovery?  Please explain... ???

Quoting:99% of his conversations about drugs deal with either illegal drugs or the attempts to legalize them.  In all the times I have listened to him, I have never heard him say anything negative about those that take prescription pills.End Quote

Why is it that addiction to illegally aquired prescription pills are less of a problem the illegally aquired other drugs?  Bottem line it is laws are violated to aquire either way, the only differance is Rush's housekeeper will probably do the time and he will have his hiney blindly kissed by people like you.  
Dont you get it?  No one is damning him for his addiction, all wish his recovery, but he shouldn't be allowed any greater excuse or exempt from any law that others are held to.

Quoting:
What does this mean?  Maybe an excuse for Rush come down harder on addicts when he's done with treatment?  That people that have dealt with the problem have little tolerance for current users?  That empathy is often loss in the process of recovery?  Please explain... ???
End Quote

Well, if you want to hear about an anti-legalization stance, talk to a former addict.  Most addicts I know (like 99%) are totally AGAINST any form of legalization.  They know the dangers of the drugs they used, and agree that there is no "safe" limit for most of them.  Most will admit that Marijuanna is a "stepping-stone" drug, and know of the dangers of wanting a "better high".

Quoting:
Why is it that addiction to illegally aquired prescription pills are less of a problem the illegally aquired other drugs?  Bottem line it is laws are violated to aquire either way, the only differance is Rush's housekeeper will probably do the time and he will have his hiney blindly kissed by people like you.  
Dont you get it?  No one is damning him for his addiction, all wish his recovery, but he shouldn't be allowed any greater excuse or exempt from any law that others are held to.
End Quote

Well, for one they are LEGAL.  There are safety standards in place during it's creation.  Check some of the things used for "cutting" street drugs.  And while the illegal USE of these is bad for society, the drug itself is created and distributed for a different reason.

Rush himself was PERSCRIBED his medication, he started to exceed that when he thought he needed more.  That does not excuse his addiction, but it is much different from somebody that buys a drug to get high.

Quoting:


Well, if you want to hear about an anti-legalization stance, talk to a former addict.  Most addicts I know (like 99%) are totally AGAINST any form of legalization.  They know the dangers of the drugs they used, and agree that there is no "safe" limit for most of them.  Most will admit that Marijuanna is a "stepping-stone" drug, and know of the dangers of wanting a "better high".


Well, for one they are LEGAL.  There are safety standards in place during it's creation.  Check some of the things used for "cutting" street drugs.  And while the illegal USE of these is bad for society, the drug itself is created and distributed for a different reason.

Rush himself was PERSCRIBED his medication, he started to exceed that when he thought he needed more.  That does not excuse his addiction, but it is much different from somebody that buys a drug to get high.
End Quote

Oxycontin is not just being abused by people who have had surgery and have become addicted by accident. Oxycontin is known as "Hollywood Heroin" because when ground up and snorted the user gets the same high as heroin. So these hollywood types use Oxycontin instead of heroin because when they get caught using it, it's easier to get out of trouble because it's a "Prescription" drug and isn't the same as other street drugs.

So Rush might not be any different than a common street junkie who uses just to get high. In my eyes he is no different than someone like Jack Osbourne who abused the drug to get high not because he was in any type of pain.

Quoting:
Oxycontin is not just being abused by people who have had surgery and have become addicted by accident. Oxycontin is known as "Hollywood Heroin" because when ground up and snorted the user gets the same high as heroin. So these hollywood types use Oxycontin instead of heroin because when they get caught using it, it's easier to get out of trouble because it's a "Prescription" drug and isn't the same as other street drugs.

So Rush might not be any different than a common street junkie who uses just to get high. In my eyes he is no different than someone like Jack Osbourne who abused the drug to get high not because he was in any type of pain.
End Quote

But he WAS perscribed it.  He had spinal surgery 4 years ago, and has been on that and other pain killers since then.  Not to mention his brain surgery last year.

I love how some people just HAVE to make people out to be what they are not.  They jump through hoops to make anything look bad (or good) just to make some kind of point.

I do not deny that he is an addict.  I have delt with a LOT of addicts over the years, in my family (alcoholism), in the military (drugs and alcohol) and in a veterans program I helped out.  Granted, NA and AA both say "an addict is an addict", they also admit that there are different ways to become addicted.  The "accidental addictions" (normally alcohol and prescribed medications) are often the hardest to work with, because most slip into the addiction without realizing it.

Nobody DECIDES to become addicted to perscription drugs.  I myself have refused to take them because of my FAMILIES history of addiction.  I know that I am genetically predisposed to addiction, so I avoid them.  But if I had to deal with the pain of spinal surgery, I might take them.  And if I did, I have a good chance of becomming addicted.  But I would NOT be taking them to get high, I would be useing them for pain relief.

Lets all get off of our high horses, and deal with the problem, not passing judgement, bashing, and trying to make something that this is not.  You do not like him, we get that message.  

Quoting:"an addict is an addict", End Quote

Exactly!  And we all hope that he is a recovering addict.  But the points being made here are not to make Rush out to be worse than he is, but to hold him accountable, just as everyone should, that he aquired drugs illegally.  Street drugs have come from prescription formulas, prescribed drugs can have there origins in the street.  It doesn't matter that it was a prescription drug or a street drug, as an addict if he had not been able to coerce his housekeeper to pick them up, he would have gotten them somplace else.  That's what addicts do.  

Quoting:

Exactly!  And we all hope that he is a recovering addict.  But the points being made here are not to make Rush out to be worse than he is, but to hold him accountable, just as everyone should, that he aquired drugs illegally.  Street drugs have come from prescription formulas, prescribed drugs can have there origins in the street.  It doesn't matter that it was a prescription drug or a street drug, as an addict if he had not been able to coerce his housekeeper to pick them up, he would have gotten them somplace else.  That's what addicts do.  
End Quote

Agreed.  Mr. 80s does have a point that the drugs were legal to begin with and Rush crusaded against illegal drugs, but an addiction is an addiction and Rush should definitely be held accountable.  

Quoting:


Oxycontin is not just being abused by people who have had surgery and have become addicted by accident. Oxycontin is known as "Hollywood Heroin" because when ground up and snorted the user gets the same high as heroin.
End Quote

Quoting:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but snorting oxycontin is still less of a high, think freebasing is when drug is ground into powder and cooked and liquified in a little saline in a spoon, then filtered through cotton into a syringe and injected into the bloodstream.  
End Quote

OK, I am tired of all this %#*&!!!!

For one, it has NEVER been said he was snorting it!  You have put this in over and over and over again.  This is just another example of "the big lie".  Say something over and over and over again, and it becomes true.

Oh, Bill never slept around.  Oh, Bill never slept with that intern.  Oh, that intern is a lying whore, Bill never slept with her.  Oh, there is semen on her dress, well, that is his private life, it does not matter.

What I do is stick to facts.  But for some people, that does not matter at all.  THey believe what they believe, who cares what the truth is.  I have had it.  I have had fun on this board, but I can see now that truth does not matter here worth a dickens, it is now just a place for one person to smear another.

GOodbye, it was fun, but I do not find it fun anymore when I point out fact after fact, and try to talk to somebody that has this fantasy, and who cares what the truth is, it will not stand in the way of their belief and wish that somebody was a drug snorting drug fiend raceist, because that is what they WANT them to be, not what they really are.

Quoting:


OK, I am tired of all this %#*&!!!!

For one, it has NEVER been said he was snorting it!  You have put this in over and over and over again.  This is just another example of "the big lie".  Say something over and over and over again, and it becomes true.

Oh, Bill never slept around.  Oh, Bill never slept with that intern.  Oh, that intern is a lying whore, Bill never slept with her.  Oh, there is semen on her dress, well, that is his private life, it does not matter.

What I do is stick to facts.  But for some people, that does not matter at all.  THey believe what they believe, who cares what the truth is.  I have had it.  I have had fun on this board, but I can see now that truth does not matter here worth a dickens, it is now just a place for one person to smear another.

GOodbye, it was fun, but I do not find it fun anymore when I point out fact after fact, and try to talk to somebody that has this fantasy, and who cares what the truth is, it will not stand in the way of their belief and wish that somebody was a drug snorting drug fiend raceist, because that is what they WANT them to be, not what they really are.
End Quote

First of all. I would like to let you know that I am CANADIAN, therefore I do not care whether or not Bill slept with an intern, he was your president, not mine. I am also not just another Rush hater out for revenge. In fact i've never even listened to his show, so how could I hold a grudge against him?

You say that you are only presenting facts. Well so am I. You don't know for sure what he was doing with these illegally obtained drugs. You're right, it has never been said that he was snorting the drug. But like you pointed out, Bill never came right out and said that he was sleeping with his intern either.

So exactly who is believing the big lie? Clinton supporters, or Rush supporters?

The only thing that I was doing was pointing out to you what a lot of Hollywood types are doing with this drug. I wasn't saying that this is what Rush was doing, I was saying that you don't know what he was doing. There's a big difference. It appears that you have put Rush above all other addicts, and absolutly refuse to accept the fact that he might be just like the rest of them. You have absolutely no idea how he was using this drug, so to say that it is ok for him to be addicted (not ok, but understandable), and everyone else who is addicted to drugs deserves what they get (because they just want to get high) is pretty hypocritical to me.

Quoting:


OK, I am tired of all this %#*&!!!!

For one, it has NEVER been said he was snorting it!  You have put this in over and over and over again.  This is just another example of "the big lie".  Say something over and over and over again, and it becomes true.

Oh, Bill never slept around.  Oh, Bill never slept with that intern.  Oh, that intern is a lying whore, Bill never slept with her.  Oh, there is semen on her dress, well, that is his private life, it does not matter.

What I do is stick to facts.  But for some people, that does not matter at all.  THey believe what they believe, who cares what the truth is.  I have had it.  I have had fun on this board, but I can see now that truth does not matter here worth a dickens, it is now just a place for one person to smear another.

GOodbye, it was fun, but I do not find it fun anymore when I point out fact after fact, and try to talk to somebody that has this fantasy, and who cares what the truth is, it will not stand in the way of their belief and wish that somebody was a drug snorting drug fiend raceist, because that is what they WANT them to be, not what they really are.
End Quote

Quoting:
I think you are right and reading your info in the thread appears you speak from experience.  Suggest you not throw in the towell because of what we think or say and you get frustrated.  I for one have learned from your info and won't forget it, so thanks.
End Quote

Thanks for that, but I have decided that I will not get involved again with anything of serious substance on this board.

I tried to have a conversation with somebody, and all I saw on every post was how "Hollywood Types" snort Oxyconti.  No matter how I tried to talk about drug addiction, and Mr. Limbaugh's in particular, it was thrown back to how SOME people snort it!

I do not need to be told about "Hollywood Types".  I *LIVED* in Hollyweird until this March, when I got sick of it all and left California.  I have worked in the entertianment industry for years (both in front of and behind the camera).  And contrary to popular belief, they are not all drug-induced zombies.

This is my last serious post.  Nobody who becomes addicted to perscription drugs through a perscription does it to get high (unless they exceed the dose on purpose).  In fact, here is his exact quote on the subject:

I first started taking prescription painkillers some years ago when my doctor prescribed them to treat post surgical pain following spinal surgery. Unfortunately, the surgery was unsuccessful and I continued to have severe pain in my lower back and also in my neck due to herniated discs. I am still experiencing that pain. Rather than opt for additional surgery for these conditions, I chose to treat the pain with prescribed medication. This medication turned out to be highly addictive.

Over the past several years I have tried to break my dependence on pain pills and, in fact, twice checked myself into medical facilities in an attempt to do so. I have recently agreed with my physician about the next steps.


I remember noticeing his several-week absenses.  It was at the same time as his hearing problems.  THat was when he was in rehab in addition to his brain surgery.

People that take drugs to get high do it FAR in excess of perscription doses.  In addition, there are drugs that are much more effective for this effect.  That is why drugs like codine are or darvocet and ritalin are nowhere near as common as marijuanna, cocaine, or more serious amphetamines.

I helped my late fiancee with a case of withdrawl to darvocet which she was perscribed to.  She did not take them for a high, but to deal with pain.  In fact, most addicts like this take them to be "normal", and get no high at all.  The drug often takes the place of the endorphins that the body releases normally, and supresses the body's ability to release them.  This is why addicts frequently go into depression during/after withdrawl.  It takes time for the natural endorphins to kick in again.

This is the difference between accidental perscription addiction and recreational addiction.  One is to experience a rush, the other is to either deal with pain or to "be normal".  And as long as his pain can be dealt with, he should be good after withdrawl.  But if his pain is still a major problem, he will still have drug problems until something can solve that.