http://story.news.yahoo.c...ainkillers

Rush Limbaugh Admits Painkiller Addiction


By JILL BARTON, Associated Press Writer

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh announced during his radio show Friday that he is addicted to painkillers and is checking into a rehab center to "break the hold this highly addictive medication has on me."



"You know I have always tried to be honest with you and open about my life," Limbaugh said during a stunning admission aired nationwide. "So I need to tell you today that part of what you have heard and read is correct. I am addicted to prescription pain medication."


"Immediately following this broadcast, I am checking myself into a treatment center for the next 30 days to once and for all break the hold this highly addictive medication has on me," he added.


Limbaugh gave up his job as an ESPN sports analyst Oct. 1, three days after saying on the sports network's "Sunday NFL Countdown" that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.


The reports of possible drug abuse surfaced at about the same time, first in the National Enquirer. The tabloid had interviewed Wilma Cline, who said she became Limbaugh's drug connection after working as his maid. She said Limbaugh had abused OxyContin and other painkillers.


Law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed to The Associated Press that Limbaugh was being investigated by the Palm Beach County, Fla., state attorney's office.


"At the present time, the authorities are conducting an investigation, and I have been asked to limit my public comments until this investigation is complete," Limbaugh said.


Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for the Palm Beach County state attorney's office, said Friday his office could neither confirm nor deny that an investigation was under way. Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black, did not return a message seeking comment.


Limbaugh said he started taking painkillers "some years ago" after a doctor prescribed them following a spinal surgery. His back pain stemming from the surgery persisted, so Limbaugh said he started taking pills and became hooked.


"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."


Steve Plamann, executive editor of The National Enquirer, said he was gratified by Limbaugh's admission and his plans to seek help.


"We didn't do our stories gleefully. We just reported the facts," Plamann said.


However, Limbaugh said that reports about his addiction have inaccuracies and distortions which he will clarify when he is able to speak about them.


Premiere Radio Networks, which syndicates the politically focused "Rush Limbaugh Show" to more than 650 markets, did not have an immediate comment, said spokesman Michael Sitrick. Several guest hosts were scheduled until Limbaugh comes back after rehab.

oh me oh my...

It's a liberal conspiracy!

for some strange reason, I felt compelled to listen to Rush today, for his whole show, instead of switching to CD's during the 3 hours between the 2 radio shows I regularly listen to were on.


his revelation at the end of his show was quite a shocker. not surprised that he is addicted to painkillers, but shocking that he admitted to it on the air (and that he was leaving straight from there to go to rehab).


i was standing in the middle of a quiet corn field with my headphones on and my "are you fuckin kiddin me!?" was probably audible from a mile away


anyway, despite my own personal feelings for Rush and his political views, he sure handled it with class and honesty.

AaronMaximus said:

heh heh They just said on CNN that he did it more for legal reasons than anything else.

Oh that Alan Dershowitz. What a card.

Well I hope he goes straight to jail after rehab. That is the only place befitting drug addicts according to that fat bastard.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

really? i've listened to him semi-frequently for about 8 years and i've never heard him say that. he's obnoxious and hypocritical about many things, but let's not assign him guilt for things he's not done or said.

AaronMaximus said:

Please. In all his diatribes he certainly lacked any kind of compassion for people addicted to drugs. Now that this creep is addicted all the hypocrites will stand up and urge compassion. This isn't directed at you but at all the cretans that will defend Limbaugh's addiction while throwing others into the damn fire.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

yes, but he never said that they should be locked up. in fact, i've heard him say several times that he doesn't think addicts should be locked up. i understand your statements though. people that aren't that familiar with him and his show and the things he DOES say, often have the impression that he says a lot of things that he doesn't. there are many things to take him to task over, but assigning blame or guilt to him for things he hasn't said is no way to prove a point.


and i don't defend his addiction. no more than any other. i look down on it, but i feel compassion for him and any others who are addicts.

AaronMaximus said:

Well I hope this helps his to show some compassion instead of sitting on his high chair casting stones from his glass house...

This is why I hate conservatives so much. They are all guilty of the failures and shortcomings they slay others for.

.
[This message was edited Fri Oct 10 16:10:32 PDT 2003 by SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

well, we're on the same page there.

Just a minute ago he was being flamed for saying disparaging things about Donovan McNabb, now that's old news and this painkiller addiction thing is headline news. At first I didn't get it. But then I heard that he's a hypocrite. On the news I heard the comments he said about people you use drugs (he said something rude about the late Jerry Garcia). Now HE's one of them.

What a mo-ron.

AaronMaximus said:

Here are his own words :

"On Sept. 23, 1993: "If there's a line of cocaine here, I have to make the choice to go down and sniff it ... If there were a gun here, it wouldn't fire itself. I've got to reach for it and pull the trigger ... we are rationalizing all this irresponsibility and all the choices people are making and we're blaming not them, but society for it. All these Hollywood celebrities say the reason they're weird and bizarre is because they were abused by their parents. So we're going to pay for that kind of rehab, too, and we shouldn't. It's not our responsibility."

Jan. 15, 1996: "... there were a couple of drug convictions out in -- I think it was a Colorado court. And these guys had -- had done some really bad stuff, and there were mandated federal sentences for the crimes they had committed. And the judge apologized to the criminals while sentencing them because he thought it was too severe. He apologized and the community was outraged. So we've gone from a judge sentencing a mother who makes her child beg six months in jail, to judges apologizing for getting dope dealers and crack dealers and drug salesmen off the streets with too severe a sentence."

Dec. 16, 1994: "So we're not going to get on -- we don't fault these animals for a lack of discipline, but we get on human beings who are fat for lack of discipline and you know it and I know it. But here's the thing that struck me about this. We have alcoholics and drug addicts in our society, don't we? And what do we say about them? Well, they can't help it. Why, it's genetic. Why, they have a disease. Why, put one thimbleful of scotch in front of them and they can die.' We totally exempt them from any control over their lives, do we not? Some athlete will spend two years snorting lines of coke. 'He can't help it.' You know, it's -- it's just -- it's not -- it's -- it's genetic. These people -- they're predisposed to having this addictive syndrome. They -- they can't help -- yeah, like that line of cocaine just happened to march into the hotel, go up to the athlete's room and put itself right there in front of him on his blotter." "

man, fuck a Rush Limbaugh

Already all his cronies are like "watch the liberals show their true colors and jump on the man while he's down"
Shit, I remember when he spent a couple of shows denouncin the "pill poppin hippy liberals" and stated that there was NO REASON fofr addiction, therefore no need for Treatment programs. (at least for the poor)


SO FUCK HIM AND FEED HIM FISH

Aerogram said:

nowhere in these comments does he say that addicts should be locked up for being addicts. also, he advocates personal responsibility for one's actions, whether through addiction or not. and that's what he's done, taken personal responsibility for his addiction.
[This message was edited Sat Oct 11 12:14:11 PDT 2003 by AaronMaximus]

Hypocrite.

Not surprised though.

AaronMaximus said:

Your sticking to a narrow point and besides I don't contend he's for locking them up, though I wouldn't be surprised he said as much at least once over his long career.

The real issue is that he calls addicts "animals" and is against providing treatment, on the ground that addictiondoesn't really exist and it's all a personal choice.

That's just plain dumb. Yeah, if you choose to start doing anything addictive, it is a choice, but the nature of addiction is to make you physically less able to make the right choice, to the point where even preachy right wing radio hosts can fall into the trap against all probability, according to their tough stance on the matter.

Rush Limbaugh can afford detox. It looks like he finds it helpful for himself. Why then not acknowledge the same for those who are not loaded multimillionaire and are in dire need of detox programs?

Rush is morally bankrupt at this point.

That is the point.

this just in: fuck rush limbaugh still, regardless, whenever, however ...

Aerogram said:

actually, no. if you read it in context, he's talking about actual animals.




i fully understand your point, and i agree with it more than you know. however, there's enough to fault him for without assigning statements and opinions to him that aren't his, and that's what a lot of people who attack him do. that's all i was taking issue with.

I'm actually quite pleased about this.

I'm pro drug legalization. Rush holds a whole LOT of influence over millions of voters. Maybe this humiliation will cause him to soften his views. It has too, really.

He did call Clinton a "dope smoker" for trying weed in college--a pointless smear--shit like that needs to be checked when you're talking about someone as powerful as Rush.

Basically, a dose of humiliation can work wonders for people. I hope Rush emerges from this a better man.

AaronMaximus said:

Point taken on the animal bit, but people's relative lack of compassion is commensurate to Limbaugh's own lapses in this department. I sympathize with anyone who tries to kick an addiction, but it's also true right wing pundits like Limbaugh have been advocating harsh, derisive and less than compassionate attitudes toward drug addicts and even people who have merely tried drugs. Compassion is largely missing from neo-con rethoric, and people are simply talking about Limbaugh because hypocrisy has once again been exposed.
[This message was edited Sat Oct 11 14:39:03 PDT 2003 by Aerogram]

Aerogram said:

i agree, except to say "pundits like Limbaugh" that's fine, but it doesn't describe him.

i'd be glad to agree with anyone who wants to bring up the actual times he's been harshly critical of drug use and addiction (Clinton not inhaling, Clinton and cocaine, Ted Kennedy's alcoholism), but to ascribe opinions and statements to him to make the point is as intellectually bankrupt and disingenuous as Limbaugh's own moral bankruptcy on the drug use/addiction issue.

now, if only he'd fess up to that frontal lobotomy he had years ago

rush out on a limb once again..