Posted on 10/18/2003 2:06:13 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Quentin S. -- a young black man with little money -- is a drug addict, like most of the offenders who show up in the drug court of Fulton County Superior Court Judge Doris "Dee" Downs. When he was arrested for possession of marijuana and cocaine, she sentenced him to a regimen of drug treatment and random drug tests.
But when Quentin repeatedly failed those tests, Downs sentenced him to a year's incarceration in a state-run detention center, where he is receiving drug treatment. After his release, his probation will require outpatient treatment for a year, as well as intensive supervision.
Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, is a wealthy, middle-aged white man. He, too, is having trouble kicking a drug habit. By his own admission, he is trying for the third time to break free of his addiction to painkillers. But unlike Quentin (whose last name is being withheld), Limbaugh is unlikely to spend time behind bars. Nor is he likely to be required to take random drug tests or report to a probation officer.
Limbaugh may -- or may not -- be guilty of hypocrisy. His public utterances have been contradictory. In 1995, he told viewers of his now-defunct TV show that drug users, as well as sellers, deserved long prison terms.
"We have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs," he ranted. "And the laws are good because we know what happens to people in societies and neighborhoods which become consumed by them. 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 . . ."
In 1998, Limbaugh reversed himself:
"It seems to me that what is missing in the drug fight is legalization," he said. "If we want to go after drugs with the same fervor and intensity with which we go after cigarettes, let's legalize drugs . . . get control of the price and generate tax revenue from it . . ."
Perhaps his own struggles with addiction over that three-year period had softened his views.
In admitting his addiction on his radio show, Limbaugh also announced that he would be checking into a private rehabilitation center, where his addiction would be treated as a medical problem rather than a criminal matter. In the nation's war on drugs -- largely a war on poor men of color -- that's not an option for men such as Quentin.
"Blacks are arrested and confined in numbers grossly out of line with their use or sale of drugs," Michael Tonry, criminal justice expert and author of "Malign Neglect: Race, Crime & Punishment in America," wrote in 1995.
Experts cite several reasons, including poverty. Poor drug addicts cannot afford expensive drug treatment facilities or high-powered lawyers.
Limbaugh, of course, is far from poor. If his former housekeeper, Wilma Cline, is to be believed (authorities have verified parts of her story), Limbaugh paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars for illicit supplies of hydrocodone, Lorcet and OxyContin over the last several years. Once the news media caught wind of Limbaugh's drug use, he was able to check himself in -- again -- to a private facility and to hire famed Florida defense attorney Roy Black.
"A person like Rush Limbaugh is a valued employee or self-employed. He is much less likely to have to sell drugs to support his habit, much less likely to have to come in contact with the criminal justice system . . . He has options, like insurance," says Judge Downs.
By contrast, half the addicts who end up in Downs' courtroom are homeless, having already lost jobs, apartments and family connections. Those who repeatedly fail court-mandated treatment often go to jail.
Though Downs doubts that Limbaugh can break OxyContin's powerful grip in just 30 days, she believes all drug addicts -- no matter their class or color -- should be given multiple chances for a new start, just as Limbaugh has had. She is dedicated to the drug court, which offers those chances, despite the long odds against short-term success. Still, there is something wrong with a criminal justice system that tars poor drug addicts with a criminal record, while wealthy ones get away clean. Perhaps redemption -- like so much else -- is reserved for the rich.
"It seems to me that what is missing in the drug fight is legalization," he said. "If we want to go after drugs with the same fervor and intensity with which we go after cigarettes, let's legalize drugs . . . get control of the price and generate tax revenue from it . . ."
An awful lot of editing. Having listened to Rush, I can be fairly certain (without having the complete transcript) that he was again making the point that LIBERALS are killing their precious tax revenue golden goose when they over tax and restrict cigarette smoking, and that the same restrictive measures would cut drug use.
I've seen enough of life, and pain, to only wish Rush the best. The sheer hatred pouring forth from the Left, and a few others, is shameful.
you and I and the postman can talk all day, make video's of or audio tapes of what looks like drug buying but unless the drugs are found on you or in your house, I see no case.. unless of course its a sting operation...but I don't think that is what happened here....
the drug war is after the pusher, not the user...
Rush should be treated just like all the rich and famous are treated in Hollywood....counseling, forgiveness, an Academy award or two, with a standing ovation..
If Rush were on a recreational trip, I would have little sympathy. His doctor got him hooked by prescribing these pain killers. OxyC really does kill pain but oh what a grip. I pray for your recovery, Rush. God Speed.
LOL!
Ah, finally, the quote I've been hearing about!
It should be taken in context rather than as a stand-alone statement.
Rush was basically using sarcasm to point out the absurdity of the leftists' tax-and-spend-on-social-programs mindset, particularly in relation to cigarettes. He went on to explain why he thinks the left's attack on tobacco companies is based on greed rather than morality. I don't think he was actually advocating drug legalization.
The full segment (Source) is actually very long, but some pertinent excerpts follow:
Based on the reality of how we're going after cigarette smokers, The thing that we cannot do in the drug fight right now is regulate because it's illegal. Drugs are against the law and so the manufacturers are illegal. They're not even on shore they're down there in Columbia and the Calli Cartel and they're working to poison the brains and minds of the future of America. And so what we do is to try to keep those drugs from getting in. And I agree with you that it's a half baked effort.But what are we doing with cigarettes. Well we are punishing the manufacturers We're suing them left and right we're going to cause them to settle out of court for $368 billion. We're gonna let them keep making them but then we're going to have the price go way way up so that we ostensibly say by virtue of that we don't want anybody to smoke cigarettes anymore and we're going to try to price it out of most peoples existence but we're going to raise those prices and most of that money will be taxes and we're going to use that money for health care programs for our kids and so forth.
It seems to me that what is missing in the drug fight is legalization. If we want to go after drugs with the same fervor and intensity with which we go after cigarettes let's legalize drugs. Legalize the manufacture of drugs. Licence the Calli Cartel make them tax payers and then sue them. Sue them left and right and then get control of the price and generate tax revenue from it. Raise the price sky high and fund all sorts of other wonderful social programs.
...
That's why I'm telling you. You may think my statement here flippant but you asked why aren't we going after drugs as fervently as we're going after cigarettes. I agree with cocaine marijuana uh well cocaine, crack, LSD, heroin, all those you can...I don't know of anybody whose overdosed on cigarettes. I do know that people have burned their houses down but I don' know anybody whose said I'm going to smoke cigarettes until I die and then pulled it off inside of 12 hours. I do know people who've overdosed on drugs and know of them. You talk about death and the ruined lives...heroin addiction is far more debilitating that tobacco addiction let's be honest about it. Tobacco addiction is a 30 year death. Heroin addiction is instant death and yet we're not going after this stuff with the same moral fervor that we are. Why? Because we're not going after cigarettes with a moral fervor either we're going after cigarettes because of money.
Now if you want to go after drugs on the same basis you've got to make it a target for money and the only way that I can think of to do that is either the government become the pimp and sell the stuff make it prescription with the government as the pharmacist or you legalize drugs let them come into the country get a whole bunch of generations of people using these things and then decide some years later that "This is terrible. We must stop this. This is horrible. Those drug manufacturers have lied to us about the safety of the product. They said they were going to control the amounts and they haven't. We're suing them." And then go and get some money from the Calli drug cartel legally.
I'm not being flippant. I'm trying to illustrate a point.
- Rush Limbaugh, March 12, 1998
On Rush's show Friday, Walter Willams and his guest did a wonderful service by taking about education. ``No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning,'' by Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom.
Those drug manufacturers have lied to us about the safety of the product. They said they were going to control the amounts and they haven't. We're suing them." And then go and get some money from the Calli drug cartel legally. I'm not being flippant. I'm trying to illustrate a point. - Rush Limbaugh, March 12, 1998
BUMP!
Their offspring, unfortunately, are alive and well, and wasting their youth on Limbaugh.
LOL. If you're not taking it for pain- you're getting high. Rush was getting high.
If Rush had never been a drum-beater for draconian drug laws, I might agree.
But he was, and I don't. He deserves to be prosecuted for illegal possession of Schedule II opiates and spend many years in prison, thinking about the consequences of the drug-war hysteria he helped fuel.
--ccm
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