Rush joins the parade of arrested, indicted, disgraced, ...

[citygirlsmom]

<p>These are ALL Rush Limbaugh quotes, not mine!!</p>

<p>He was soooo generous with other drug addicts, just wanted to share</p>

<p>I think criminal punishments for addicts is wrong, treatment for addicts, like Rush is getting, is appropriate, but dear old Rush, thinks jail is the justice warranted for addicts, well, unless it is himself of course</p>

<p>Prohibition was dumb, but I do understand where it came from, the reason people passed it, but I think it would have been better dealing witht he men beating their wivers, the fighting, etc, from alcohol abuse and jailing those men for the crimes committed while drunk, wife abuse, etc, might have been a better tact</p>

<p>at the time, beating of women by men was just ignored, and the underlying cause was ignored, so women faught back </p>

<p>it wasn’t the drinking per se, it was the abuse, and at the time, banning alchol was the easiest and only recourse available…because it wasn’t taken seriouslly that women were dying</p>

[w1cked]

<p>Seems like the guy is full of *<strong><em>. I *</em></strong>ing hate conservatives and their pontificating stance on drugs and morality.</p>

[razorsharp]

<p>CGM, there is just one problem with your hysteria. Rush was talking about illegal drugs not prescription drugs. There is a pretty big difference between someone who knowingly purchases heroin and someone who is forced to take pain killers because of a surgery. But then again, why let an obvious distinction like that interrupt your political agenda?</p>

<p>W1cked, sounds like you might want to take a trip to Mexico. Your kind of country?

Owning marijuana, cocaine and even heroin will no longer be a crime in Mexico if the drugs are carried in small amounts for personal use, under legislation passed by the Congress.

<a href=“http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-04-28T164933Z_01_N281836_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEXICO-DRUGS.xml&rpc=22[/url]”>http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-04-28T164933Z_01_N281836_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEXICO-DRUGS.xml&rpc=22&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[w1cked]

<p>Or not…I would never touch anything like cocaine/heroin in my life, but that doesn’t mean I won’t support adults who wish to use them, for whatever reason. Maybe you should go to somewhere like Iran where imposing your ‘morality’ upon the masses is common practice.</p>

[razorsharp]

<p>

Maybe you should go to somewhere like Iran and impose your ‘morality’ on the masses.

Funny thing about having to live in a federal republic – you have to comply with laws with which you may not agree. I will watch for you in the parade on Monday. Praise Allah!</p>

[w1cked]

<p>The even funnier thing is that we live in a federal republic. Umm…what parade? Parading is for fools.</p>

[razorsharp]

<p>You know, the big illegal alien parade on Monday that will shut down the cities. Love those Mexicans. </p>

<p>Here’s my Danish cartoon of the Prophet Smilehammad :). He loves watching the Infidels getting their heads cut off for using pain killers.</p>

[citygirlsmom]

<p>if people obeyed with laws with which they disagreed, we would still be segragated</p>

<p>and rush talked about addicts of which he is one…so its prescription…a very dangerous one, and were was he getting his drugs…</p>

<p>he is a hypocrit </p>

<p>addiction is addiction, so some people get theirs from the street, good ole Rush got his from bad doctors</p>

<p>razprsharp, you aren’t worth the time</p>

[citygirlsmom]

<p>From the DEA website:
The Problem</p>

<p>Abusers can easily compromise the controlled release formulation for a powerful morphine-like high.</p>

<p>Common means of OxyContin® diversion</p>

<ul>
<li> Fraudulent prescriptions
*</li>
<li> Doctor shopping
*</li>
<li> Over-prescribing
*</li>
<li> Pharmacy theft
*</li>
<li> Organized rings of individuals diverting and selling OxyContin®
*</li>
<li> Foreign diversion and smuggling into the U.S.</li>
</ul>

<p>While the diversion and abuse of OxyContin® appear to be concentrated in rural areas of the eastern United States, there are growing problems throughout the nation.</p>

<p>Criminal activities resulting from the abuse of OxyContin® are challenging local law enforcement and health care system resources. Property and other crimes related to OxyContin® addiction have been reported to have increased as much as 75 percent.</p>

<p>DEA’s Goal</p>

<p>To ensure that the legitimate users of OxyContin® continue to receive their medication while reducing its diversion and abuse</p>

<p>Enforcement & Intelligence</p>

<p>Focus existing resources on investigations of illicit sales and abuse of OxyContin®</p>

<ul>
<li> Investigate pharmacy thefts with other law enforcement agencies
*</li>
<li> Identify large volume purchasers
*</li>
<li> Participate in Healthcare Fraud Working Groups
*</li>
<li> Work with international organizations</li>
</ul>

<p>Regulatory & Administrative</p>

<ul>
<li> Utilize the full range of DEA’s authority to restrict abuser access to OxyContin®</li>
<li> Work closely with the FDA urging reformulation to reduce abuse potential</li>
</ul>

<p>Seek Industry Cooperation</p>

<ul>
<li> Encourage Purdue Pharma to develop a balanced market strategy</li>
<li> Solicit support in providing educational programs</li>
</ul>

<p>Outreach</p>

<ul>
<li> Increase awareness among:</li>
<li></li>
<li> The Healthcare Industry
*</li>
<li> Other Government Agencies
*</li>
<li><p>The General Public
*</p></li>
<li><p>Seek the medical community’s input on ways to lessen and prevent diversion of OxyContin®
*</p></li>
<li><p>Meet with major private and government insurance carriers
*</p></li>
<li><p>Develop resources for use by other agencies in alerting practitioners to the problem</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Now, see, there are some big issues with Rush addiction and him getting the drug the way he did</p>

<p>He needed treatment, instead, he broke the law, and the DEA takes oxycontin situation very seriouslly</p>

<p>Why did Rush not get help? Because he would look bad as he wants to jail addicts, which is really sad</p>

<p>If he just been brave enough to get help sooner, and then, gee he lied about it</p>

[cheers]

<p>A girl can live in hope…</p>

[mini]

<p>This is what I do for a living. Once prescription opiates illicitly obtained become endemic to a community, they pretty quickly become interchangeable with heroin (as many a Kentucky community is now finding out.) One is simply a synthetic formulation of a morphine directive, heroin-like in all important characteristics. As the price of heroin varies (depending to some extent on how much is being shipped by the Afghani warlords or the Pakistanis under watchful American eyes), when the synthetic product price per high exceeds the heroin price by enough, communities turn to “nature’s bounty”. </p>

<p>If anyone comes to visit me in Washington, I can take you to open-air drug markets where you will be able to purchase synthetic opiates and heroin interchangeably. One-stop shopping! Most of the synthetics in the market were initially obtained in exactly the way Rush got his. In Spokane, Washington, we now have significantly more publicly funded clients on methadone as a result of addiction to synthetic opiates than we do for heroin.</p>

<p>Many a patient has gotten “hooked” on the synthetic product because of back pain. Many a person initially hooked on heroin had either mental or physical health problems and was without the health care necessary to deal with them. At some point, the power of the addiction outstrips the problem the substance was being used to control. </p>

<p>In our state, the number of heroin deaths stabilized after 1999, but the number of synthetic opiate-related deaths has quadrupled since then (and is now well higher than those related to heroin as primary drug. It should be pointed out, however, that while it is usually possible for the medical examiner to figure out which substance was the cause of death, most synthetic opiate/heroin decedents have multiple drugs in their system when they die.</p>

[poetsheart]

<p>Untold numbers of people who never dreamed they could become drug addicts, ostensibly because they’ve always strongly disappoved of illegal drug use, become addicted to prescription pain killers every year. The pharmaceuitcal blessing that once helped them to perform life’s daily tasks following surgery or physical trauma, becomes an unforgiving task master that brings them to their knees. It’s subtle and insidious, and scarily enough, could happen to virtually anyone of us. If Rush Limbaugh hadn’t already established such a public record of smug self-righteiousness, people might actually be somewhat sympathetic. Apparently, missing from among his many talents “on loan from Gawd”, is the ability to overcome his addiction–and most especially, to acknowledge that chemical dependency does not differentiate between legal and illegal suppliers.</p>

[quiltguru]

<p>"There is a pretty big difference between someone who knowingly purchases heroin and someone who is forced to take pain killers because of a surgery. "</p>

<p>As a physician, I just have to jump in here. And I don’t have a political agenda, like razorsharp seems to. Rush Limbaugh was NOT “forced to take painkillers because of surgery”. This is crap. No patient is “forced to take painkillers because of surgery.” What? His doctor shoved a tube down his esophagus and pumped in the Oxycontin? I don’t think so. </p>

<p>There are MANY alternatives to Oxycontin (including multiple good non-narcotic alternatives) for chronic back pain. Patients who are not drug addicts will confer with his/her doctor (ONE doctor…not multiple doctors as Rush is alleged to have “shopped” for) to explore these alternatives. Rush “knowingly purchase(d)” Oxycontin by fraudulently and illegally SEEKING prescriptions from multiple physicians simultaneously, concealing the fact that he had obtained a prescription from one physician from all of the others, and purchasing them at multiple pharmacies OUT OF POCKET (not on any prescription plan) in an attempt to minimize any “track record” of his purchases and abuse. </p>

<p>So, plain and simple. Rush Limbaugh is a drug addict. Good for him for seeking rehabilitation for this. I hope he works at it and is successful. I would have been a little more sympathetic if he had bothered to do this BEFORE he got caught, but he did not. Conveniently, after looking at some potential jail time, Rush very publicly decided to be treated for his addiction and show “remorse”. Oh, please. No sympathy or empathy from this physician. I have patients who fight addiction every day and work their tails off to get and stay clean WITHOUT having to be threatened by jail time or public disdain. And they certainly don’t get on a daily radio show and tout their holier-than-thou attitude.</p>

[mini]

<p>And Oxycontin is, used as directed, a very good drug, and, again, used as directed, leads to fewer overdose incidents and less addiction that other synthetic opiate formulations. The reason for that is simple: it is time-released. An elderly person prescribed Vicodin or Oxycodone, for example, will be told to take it every 4 hours. But if the dose isn’t exactly right, at 3 1/2 hours they will be watching the clock, waiting for the opportunity to take the next pill. Eventually they may break down and reach for the bottle. No such problem should exist with Oxycontin.</p>

<p>Oxycontin also has a relatively short half-life. It doesn’t build up in the blood stream or tissues signficantly. Relatively recently, there has been a spate of deaths in both Maine and Florida, where patients, scared off by the media, have told their physicians they don’t want Oxycontin. The physicians prescribe methadone (most folks don’t know it, but its primary use is for pain). But methadone builds up in the blood stream over a period of weeks, and physicians, with less experience with it, end up prescribing more than the patient can handle. The result can be injury and death - from absolutely licit use.</p>

<p>Most opiate addicts like Limbaugh who seek out Oxycontin illicitly crush the capsules/caplets, removing the time-release barrier. It is then NOT used for pain, but for the rush (sorry for the pun). It is very, very, very unlikely that, once addicted, he was using Oxycontin for pain - if that were the case, any good physician could have adjusted the dosage of the time release formula, or as quiltquru notes, provided an effective substitute.</p>

[fundingfather]

<p>

And I don’t have a political agenda, like razorsharp seems to.

followed by:

Rush “knowingly purchase(d)” Oxycontin by fraudulently and illegally SEEKING prescriptions from multiple physicians simultaneously, concealing the fact that he had obtained a prescription from one physician from all of the others, and purchasing them at multiple pharmacies OUT OF POCKET (not on any prescription plan) in an attempt to minimize any “track record” of his purchases and abuse.

Perhaps I missed something (but I don’t think so) as I recall Rush pleaded NOT GUILTY to that charge and it has never been proven in court. So, how does the good, non-politically-motivated doctor arrive at that conclusion?</p>

[kluge]

<p>

Between July 2001 and June 2002, Cline delivered enough pills to Limbaugh “to kill an elephant,” she told the National Enquirer, the supermarket tabloid that broke (and paid for) Cline’s story.
She gave e-mails and ledgers to the cops showing that Limbaugh had purchased more than 30,000 hydrocodone, Lorcet and OxyContin pills, the Enquirer reported. Law-enforcement sources confirmed the basic facts of the Enquirer story to NEWSWEEK. Limbaugh protested that the stories contained “inaccuracies and distortions,” but last Friday, his vast listening audience heard that resonant, righteous, morally certain voice admit that he had become an addict and was entering rehab.

</p>

<p>FF, drop your ideological blinders for just a second. Limbaugh has not really denied the essence of the charges - his lawyer has simply been arguing (correctly, in my opinion) that diversion rather than prosecution is the appropriate means of dealing with it. (The correspondence is posted at thesmokinggun.com ) Limbaugh’s hypocrisy is not a reason for treating him differently than any other addict who breaks the law to get his fix. But arguing that he didn’t do it is, well, silly.</p>

[citygirlsmom]

<p>Okay. FF, you have diversions ALL the time for offenders…drunk drivers go through programs and have the record cleaned…shoplifters, the same…</p>

<p>He pleaded not guilty for ego and the record…if he was NOT GUILTY…why would treatment be mandadory, he be told to not break any laws…</p>

<p>my gosh FF, you will defend Rush forever, won’t you</p>

<p>he was an addict who broke the law to feed his habit…plain and simple…I think the treatment is a good idea…but the hypocracy of this man and you are astounding…</p>

<p>Most addicts do not have the resource dead RL did to get treatment…he was a lucky one</p>

[fundingfather]

<p>kluge, I am not arguing that he didn’t do it. I am pointing out the hypocrisy of the good doctor who first chastises someone for having a political axe to grind and then makes a quote that could easily be taken from the prosecutors opening argument. Only the prosecutor typically throws in words like “We will prove that …”. </p>

<p>The good doctor then proceeds to chastise Limbaugh as if he/she were writing the script for Randi Rhodes on Air America. No political axe to grind indeed.</p>

<p>Kluge, if you think the good doctor’s post reflected good, unbiased professional opinion, let me ask you: if you had a client about which a doctor whom you were considering using as an expert witness made such a quote, would you still use that doctor as a witness? If you would, then I hope you don’t mind if I drop you from consideration as a potential future lawyer.</p>

[fundingfather]

<p>

my gosh FF, you will defend Rush forever, won’t you

</p>

<p>Actually not. I think he and the likes of Sean Hannity and Randi Rhodes and Al Franken etc. are poisoning the political landscape.</p>

[kluge]

<p>Sorry, FF, I don’t see it. Quiltguru took exception to razorsharp’s claim that Limbaugh was “forced” to take drugs, and described him (correctly, in my opinion) as simply another addict, who acted like addicts do - that is, whatever it takes to get their fix, legal or not. I don’t see that as having an ideological axe to grind. In fact, I don’t see any political content in quiltguru’s post at all, just stripping away the excuses offered on behalf of an addict who is just as responsible for his situation as any other addict. I don’t see anything in quiltguru’s post that suggetss that “the good doctor” would feel any different about this situation if the addict in question was Al Franken or Randi Rhodes (whoever she is.)</p>

<p>If I had a client who did what Limbaugh did, quiltguru is exactly the kind of expert witness I’d consult. My philosophy as a lawyer is that I want to consult an expert who can see through the BS and tell it to me like it is. If I hired an expert like razordsharp - and bought his “analysis” - I’d get creamed in court every time, because you can’t count on finding 12 people who are that gullible.</p>