[ItsTheMediaStupid]

At some point in the painkiller-addition track, one of two things happens - either the dosage begins to exceed the amount necessary to for the amount of pain, or the pain goes away but the drugs don't.

You forgot about a third, the pain doesn't go away, or worse the pain gets worse. Rush still has the back pain. He is going to have to live with the pain, find a differant drug, try surgery again, or that electro therapy thingy.

[general_re]

Right, but if he's still having pain and his meds aren't excessive for that amount of pain, why would we be having this discussion? Is it really reasonable to call someone who is appropriately treating their pain an "addict"?

In the end, though, even Rush calls it an "addiction", which I think we should take to mean that he recognizes that he's taking more than he really needs for some reason other than just pain relief.