Limbaugh being investigated for buying illegal drugs

It started out in the tabloids but has been picked up and verified in mainstream news sources:

ABCNEWS

Tough Times
Rush Limbaugh Ends One Public Problem and Faces Another



Oct. 3— Just after he resigned his ESPN gig because of comments he made about a black quarterback's performance, Rush Limbaugh could be facing the heat again. ABCNEWS has learned new details about his alleged ties to a black-market drug ring.



A high-ranking official in Florida has told ABCNEWS some surprising details about the state's investigation of Rush Limbaugh.

ABCNEWS has confirmed that radio mega-star Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly buying illegal prescription drugs near his Palm Beach, Fla., home. Palm Beach authorities had no official comment.

"We don't comment on investigations," said Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office.

But a source close to the investigation told ABCNEWS that Limbaugh's former housekeeper claims she helped Limbaugh purchase thousands of prescription painkillers over a four-year period — at times in the parking lot of a local Denny's restaurant. Among the drugs she says she purchased: the highly addictive Oxycontin.

The source also says investigators have audiotapes of at least two drug transactions — allegedly with Limbaugh's voice — but these were recorded secretly by the former housekeeper, not by police.

Premiere Radio Networks, which syndicates the politically focused Rush Limbaugh Show to more than 650 markets, issued a statement from Limbaugh on Thursday saying: "I am unaware of any investigation by any authority involving me. No government representative has contacted me directly or indirectly. If my assistance is required, I will, of course, cooperate fully."

If the allegations prove true, the talk show host will undoubtedly need to address some of his past comments about drug abuse.

Back in 1995, Limbaugh told his audience on the syndicated Rush Limbaugh, The Television Show that people who are obtaining drugs illegally should be held responsible.

"Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up," he said to his audience during the broadcast.

Media Columnist Michael Wolff says Limbaugh's career might not be able to survive a drug charge.

"It would be labeled as an instance of incredible hypocrisy … Mr. Family values, Mr. Tough on Crime," Wolff said.

At risk for Limbaugh, not just his credibility, but a media empire that has earned his networks and stations more than a billion dollars since 1988.

"If this is a felony we're talking about here, than this is the end of Rush Limbaugh. That's it," Wolff said.

Limbaugh gave up his job as an ESPN sports analyst late Wednesday, 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.

ABCNEWS' Bob Woodruff contributed

 

sounds exactly like what some people do to ritalin. ritalin is very similar to cocaine and if you crush it up and snort it then it will give a high like coke. i'm guessing you can do that with a lot of prescription drugs if you don't do what you are supposed to do with them. hell my gf's old roommate who was a coke fiend snorted xenedrine and he said it made him feel like he was tweeked.

 

so is it good that he had a drug problem if all this stuff pans out to be true? because the way you say things it certainly makes it seem as if you are happy that he has this problem and that he got what was coming to him. and i don't mean to sound overly sappy, but rush is still a person, you know that right? he isn't an evil person when it's all said and done. so rush is still anyone...if all this is true then this story shows it more than anything that he is still just anyone. meaning he is still a regular person who screws up when you look at things and if this is true then its just a sad story.

also, i'm kind of wondering when this all started. i was wondering if he took this stuff after he had his hearing fixed. i think he went thru a surgical procedure to fix it.

 

Sorry...but I disagree...from my experience with addicts nothing EVER changes with them until they decide they want to get their lives straight. That usually does not happen in the course of months, but after years of screwing up. All the therapy and counseling in the world doesn't mean a damn thing unless the person wants to change. I spent years trying to help someone who didn't change and it sucks when you have to let them go because you know you can't help them until they want to help themselves. Anyhow, jail has usually been the best wake up call for people that I have known. But then again some people I have known also liked jail and thought it was fun to a point.

I don't know what your rational drug policy would include unless you are just talking about decriminalization of weed or something, which I think should be done. But people addicted to hard drugs like coke and stuff like that don't change until they want to change no matter how much money you spend trying to get them to change.

 

He is just like all of the other sad cases of drug addicts, and hopefully he is going to go through treatment and (because of the quality of treatment today) make it through this. His numbers might be down, but I don't think he should lose his job behind this. Drug addiction is a disease that can be treated effectively.

The problem is that he is not going to be treated like the other people caught with loads of Oxycontin. They will go to jail and that is the travesty. Rush should not go to jail over this and they should not either.

 

Most of these fears are, as is common in our drug policy these days, overblown and overhyped purposefully.

http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/277/oxyokay.shtml

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/191/oxycontinpanic.shtml

 

I think you have it backwards Oxy. is abused by the wealthy more than the rural community.

 

Rush regularly encourages the struggling to make something of their lives-- as he did.

I am really sick of all this lazy race-baiting that Rush's critics languish in. Gee, I wonder what Walter Williams will say about all this?

PC-- Perpetually Cynical... if you ask me.

 

After the fall
Limbaugh's bad week should turn himinto spokesman for a new policy on drugs

Now, about drugs.

On Thursday, this paper reported that Limbaugh may have given new meaning to his Christian name by allegedly scoring thousands of OxyContin and other pain pills without a prescription. If true, he's a junkie.

Under new federal sentencing guidelines, possession of the amount of OxyContin that Limbaugh purportedly bought (through his housekeeper) could get him 10 years in a federal penitentiary. Florida laws are far less stringent — unless prosecutors decide to go after him for related crimes, such as money laundering. In any case, he's in a lot of trouble.

On Friday, millions of loyal dittoheads tuned in to hear Limbaugh say it isn't so. But he didn't. He called the allegations "an emerging situation."

"I don't know what I'm dealing with," he added.

Translation: My lawyer says to shut up.

Limbaugh haters have seized upon the apparent hypocrisy of past diatribes on the subject of illegal substances. In 1992, for example, Rush declared illegal substances a danger to society: "Now, the drug legalization people think that those opposed to it are trying to deny them a good time. That's not at all what it is. We're trying to teach people the right way to live. ... "Probably more people's lives are going to be destroyed if you legalize it by making it so readily available."

Allegedly, Rush started buying drugs in big quantities in 1998. Interestingly, the same year he softened his stance toward the war on drugs. In fact, he called for legalizing and taxing narcotics.
You could call that self-serving, but there's another way to look at it. If Rush was using, he may have realized that people who take drugs aren't necessarily the enemies of humanity. There are reasons they get high. Some do it for kicks, but most junkies are medicating themselves because they are in pain.

So, perhaps, was Limbaugh himself. If so, that won't stop his political enemies from trying to destroy him over his addiction. But they shouldn't. There's a far better use for this scandal.

More than 400,000 people are locked up in the United States for drug violations. Some have committed violent crimes and ought to remain behind bars. But Ryan King of the Washington-based Sentencing Project estimates that more than half are incarcerated for nonviolent possession or low-level distribution. Not many people speak up for these luckless nobodies. But Limbaugh could.

Which brings us back to race.

Most drug users in this country are white, but more then two-thirds of the men and women serving time for drugs are black or Latino. Some people see this as a form of blatant racism. Others believe it's mostly because poor people can't afford great lawyers. (Limbaugh reportedly is being defended by the legendary Roy Black.)

These addicts may be weak, but they are not evil. Anti-drug slogans notwithstanding, scoring drugs on the street — or through the window of your Mercedes-Benz in a Denny's parking lot — doesn't make you dysfunctional or depraved.

Limbaugh is in a position to tell this simple truth to the world.

Instead of lecturing druggies on "the right way to live," he could use his golden microphone to coax his listeners and fans — including ex-drinker George W. Bush — into a more decent, rational drug policy.

One man can't stop the draconian war on drugs all by himself. But Rush Limbaugh is a powerfully convincing fellow, and he could help throw open the prison doors for men and women who are guilty of no more than human weakness. It's the right thing to do. And it would more than make up for dismissing Donovan McNabb as an affirmative-action quarterback.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/123578p-110971c.html

 

So when Rush does it, its just stating an opinion.

You're a dillusional dittohead.

 

OxyContin was considered a breakthrough in powerful pain medication because the pills were designed to release the medication slowly and steadily over a period of several to many hours. This is important as often other drugs such as morphine or dermorol (sp?) get you insanely drugged up when you take them and then slowly wear off. Oxy's relief is manageable and steady, so you don't have to keep popping pills.

Now, for recreational or addictive use, you don't just take the pills. That wouldn't get you the high that pill addicts crave. As has been stated before, the tables are crushed up and then snorted, smoked, mainlined etc. to get the INTENSE high of all of the normally time-released medication all at once.

It's nicknamed Hillbilly Heroin because that's essentially what it is. As far as it being upper-class or rural, well, it's both. Anyone with access to a pharmacist without scruples or some convincing prescriptions can get it. Another recent celebrity case of Oxy abuse was Jack Osbourne, who recently went to rehab.

According to these stories, Rush was using pretty much any painkiller he could get his hands on. It's likely that he didn't begin taking the drugs recreationally but rather had an injury or surgery or something where a drug was prescribed and he took more and more to get rid of the pain as his system adjusted. Eventually he became addicted. Interesting, since pill poppers often lose a significant amount of weight due to their addiction.

In the long run, anyone can become addicted to these drugs. They're very powerful and have to be regulated very carefully. If you want to get high, puff a doob, drop a tab, do whatever, but pain pills are compared to heroin because that's how addictive they can become.

All that said, Rush's hypocrisy is still incredible. I feel sorry for the man, but the irony is impossible to ignore. If, say, Jesse Jackon was caught using Oxy, even Rush's most ardent supporters have to admit that Rush would get a lot of material out of the awful situation. As far as "credibiliy" goes, well, the guy's an entertainer not much different than Letterman or Bill Mahar when you look past his agenda. He isn't a politician or a newscaster, although he does present himself as an expert at times. Nevertheless, who cares about entertainers' credibility? I don't. But then again, I'm not a fan to begin with.

 

What exactly is rush baiting with race? This demands a good answer from you!

 

Oh, I don't know, perhaps saying a guy is only considred successful because of a media conspiracy to help out blacks is probably one way to race bait.

Somehow, I'm not surprised that aren't able to see it.

 

Over-rated is not the same thing as successful. You can be successful and be over-rated. I think that is what Rush was saying about McNabb.

Rush didn't characterize race as the "only" reason for McNabb's relatively high-regard as you are suggesting nor did he characterize it as a "conspiracy" by the media.

I would also point out that I understand Rush's criticism of this phenomena not as being intended to help blacks but rather to help the NFL. The only "positions" in the league which are not really proportionally represented by the overall ratio of black-to-white players is QB, Kickers, Head Coach, and Top Executive.

Needless to say, you don't like the reason that Rush offers for this happening. You don't have to like it or agree with it.

I still don't see anything that Rush is gaining by bringing race into question. Isn't that what race-baiting is? Johnnie Cochran got jury sympathy for O.J.

Rush got the boot.

 

Franken: I'd run
to see perp walk
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/123146p-110605c.html

Conservative-baiting comedian Al Franken says he hopes the drug allegation against Rush Limbaugh isn't true, "but if it is, I'm looking forward to the perp walk."
The author of "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" said that should the talk-show host be arrested, he'll make sure to watch the spectacle on TV.

"I'll be switching channels to get it from every angle," he said. "My favorite part is when they push their heads to get them down into the [police] car."

Franken, who is on a book tour touting his latest conservative-blasting tome, "Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them," was sympathetic to Limbaugh.

"I don't like Rush. I don't like what he does — but I don't wish that [drug addiction] on anybody," he said.

Of the flap over black quarterback Donovan McNabb, the left-leaning comic scoffed at Limbaugh's explanation that his comments were aimed at the media and not about race. "He was saying Donovan is overrated because he's black," Franken said. "News to Rush: That's racist."

 

1. I said "considered successful"; either way, it makes little difference whether we're talking absolutes or comparatives. The heart of his claim was that he did not deserve the accolades he received.

He said there was a "social concern", with concern being defined as a: "[n] a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it;". Call it a conspiracy, call it a concern, either way, he implied that there was a group of people in the media/NFL who are intentionally promoting McNabb's interest over others because he is black.

I don't see how it helps the NFL if there are more black kickers or quarterbacks. Do you really think they are doing position-specific marketing to African Americans? Coaching and GM's are another matter. But seriously, if you think that blacks are the only people who get overpromoted in the NFL, I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Jeremy Shockey.

Who cares about rush's reason for this happening? Pretty much every single knowledgable person who knows or covers football for a living in the past week, Dan Pasquarelli, Peter King, Paul Zimmerman, John McClain, among others, has said what Rush said was completely idiotic and an attempt to manufacture a controversy where there was none: all QB's get overhyped when good and overblamed when bad; that's life in the NFL.

Either they too are members of the "social concern" and are covering their tracks, or Rush's opinions about football are wrong. Gee, who would you believe is more credible when talking about hte NFL, right wing talking head, or lifelong pro-football journalist.

What does he have to gain? He gets attention, that's what he does. What did he have to gain when he called Kurt Cobain a worthless piece of human debris after he died? Attention.

Now he manufactured a racial bogeyman where there wasn't one, and he got his attention, but ESPN couldn't take the heat. Oh well, live and learn.

 

Aww, you'll always have Bill Clinton to hate...isn't that cute?

 

<b>SamFisher</b>: There are still those who would still agree that McNabb is over-rated as a QB-- regardless of a race qualifier. I'm not one of them.

Yes, agreed, a concern is not a conspiracy.

I never said that only blacks are over-promoted by the NFL.

I threw in kickers at the last minute because it dawned (literally as I was writing) on me that the only black kickers I could even name are Greg Coleman and Reggie Roby-- both long-gone from the NFL. But nobody cares much about kickers. Quarterbacks, however, are another thing entirely. The glamor.

In a way the NFL does position-specific marketing because some positions are more glamorous: QB, RB, and WR for example. Maybe a few DEs or LBs. Those are the jerseys that fans buy.

Rush was hired to represent a typical fan not a sports journalist.

I agree that Rush was making a splash (apparently he took Les Alexander's turn). That's what he does.

Seems to me more like a racial Guardian Angel than a Bogeyman.

 

Rush says its true

Well I don't like the guy, but at least he came clean.

 

Limbaugh: 'I am no victim'
Friday, October 10, 2003 Posted: 3:45 PM EDT (1945 GMT)

Rush Limbaugh issued the following statement on his radio program Friday:

"You know I have always tried to be honest with you and open about my life. 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.

"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.

"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. The show will continue during this time, of course, with an array of guest hosts you have come to know and respect.

"I am not making any excuses. You know, over the years athletes and celebrities have emerged from treatment centers to great fanfare and praise for conquering great demons. They are said to be great role models and examples for others. Well, I am no role model. I refuse to let anyone think I am doing something great here, when there are people you never hear about, who face long odds and never resort to such escapes. They are the role models. I am no victim and do not portray myself as such. I take full responsibility for my problem.

"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.

"So I will only say that the stories you have read and heard contain inaccuracies and distortions, which I will clear up when I am free to speak about them.

"I deeply appreciate all your support over this last tumultuous week. It has sustained me. I ask now for your prayers. I look forward to resuming our excursion into broadcast excellence together."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good for Rush, he's kind of right also, some celebs get too much praise for kicking addiction. I'm a bit torn on that though. I mean, just like Rush got addicted to painkillers to treat his physical pain, there are people who get addicted to alcohol and hard drugs because they are clinically depressed. In that sense, addicts don't deserve scorn either (like Rush heaped on Kurt Cobain etc). People who are addicted just need help.