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Legal, prescribed painkillers can be as addictive as heroin
Contra Costa Times ^ | Mon, Oct. 20, 2003 | Jeff Donn - AP

Posted on 10/20/2003 11:00:31 AM PDT by yonif

BOSTON - Rush Limbaugh is not alone. Addiction to prescription painkillers has boomed in recent years, and they can be as tough to kick as heroin.

The number of Americans who begin misusing painkillers each year has almost quadrupled from 1990 to 2001, according to government figures.

And many abusers don't recognize the insidious slide into addiction.

"It's just so much more acceptable in society for people to be taking prescription drugs," said Sean Evans, 31, of Everett, Mass., a construction worker who became addicted to the pain reliever OxyContin, then moved on to heroin.

"You can always rationalize the reason to take it."

Limbaugh, the radio commentator, told his audience on Oct. 10 he is addicted to prescription painkillers that he began taking after spinal surgery "some years ago."

He said he had checked himself in for treatment twice before, without success.

This time, he said he was headed to a rehab center for a month "to once and for all break the hold this highly addictive medication has on me."

Limbaugh may be overly optimistic about the time frame, said Alice Young, a psychology professor and a drug researcher at Wayne State University in Detroit.

"He had said he was going into treatment and lick it within 30 days. I think that's probably an unrealistic expectation," she said.

Limbaugh didn't name the medication, but the National Enquirer, which first reported his abuse, said Limbaugh's drug connection said he used OxyContin and other painkillers.

(Excerpt) Read more at bayarea.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: addiction; heroin; limbaugh; oxycontin; painkillers; prescribed; wodlist
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To: yonif
In the War on Drugs, there are two types of junkies:
1) Rush Limbaugh
2) Everyone else.
Type 1 is to be the beneficiary of every sort of denial, excuse, rationalization, and conspiracy theory, to such a point that even the Clintonistas would have blushed.
Type 2 is to be scorned, persecuted, and imprisoned.
21 posted on 10/20/2003 11:56:42 AM PDT by WackyKat
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To: Arpege92
"If this is the case, then why do rehab centers promote this thirty days business?"

..insurance. Insurance companies will limit the number of days covered. Most will not cover being admitted for 30 days and the number of times you can be admitted is limited as well.

22 posted on 10/20/2003 12:02:00 PM PDT by Zipporah
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To: JohnGalt; Hugin
That's a very good article from Reason, a very good magazine.

Federal bureaucrats should not be in a position to interfere with a doctor/patient relationship. For one, who are they to second guess a trained medical doctor, and two, federal agencies like the DEA just attract too many power-hungry people who get their kicks by wrecking people's lives.

A doctor's career shouldn't be at the mercy of a 25-year-old DEA agent trying to get a promotion.

23 posted on 10/20/2003 12:06:26 PM PDT by tdadams
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To: weegee
Rush has certainly confronted "addictions" before. He also said that when he lost weight, he realized that he had to eliminate all "adult beverages" (sugars and carbohydrates).

Didn't Rush's wieght loss happen about the same time he started taking pain medication? Could be related. You don't see a lot of herion addicts.

24 posted on 10/20/2003 12:11:08 PM PDT by Hugin
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To: TomB
My dad was addicted to hydrocodone and morphine. This was by far the lesser of two evils, the other being excruciating pain from multiple myeloma. Thankfully his doctor did not knuckle under to the DEA about 'sending the wrong message'.

Addiction is the least of many people's worries.

I do realize that there are many people abusing oxycontin as a recreational drug, just like there are people who abuse just about every single thing on earth.
25 posted on 10/20/2003 12:12:03 PM PDT by Britton J Wingfield (TANSTAAFL)
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To: Hugin
That sould read "fat herion addicts".
26 posted on 10/20/2003 12:14:41 PM PDT by Hugin
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To: Hugin
Don't see many heroin addicts playing golf either.
27 posted on 10/20/2003 12:14:52 PM PDT by weegee
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To: weegee
I'm not so sure. Addiction among doctors is higher than you might think.
28 posted on 10/20/2003 12:18:49 PM PDT by Hugin
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To: tdadams
Legislators can't even come to a decision on when life begins. What makes you think that they could come to a rational decision on prescription medications?

If they get their way and approve a prescription medication entitlement, all such medications will have to have a finite period of treatment (call it "diminishing beneficial returns" or "protection against addiction").

At the same time all of this is going on, ADD medications are seemingly being prescribed to kids like there is no tomorrow. We also saw the recent ad campaign to convince everyone that they sufferred from depression and needed chemical treatment to correct this "imbalance". Talk about addictive medications and overprescription...

Even Lenny Bruce was able to find a doctor to write him all the prescriptions (and "medical" letters) he needed to feed his addiction. Funny thing is that the left doesn't see Lenny Bruce's denials of addiction to be hypocritical; he's a patron saint. Actually he's the man of La Mancha, comicly striking at windmills.

29 posted on 10/20/2003 12:23:32 PM PDT by weegee
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To: Zipporah
Rush is self-insured, so this wouldn't apply in his case.
30 posted on 10/20/2003 12:30:14 PM PDT by thulldud (It's bad luck to be superstitious.)
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To: Hugin
I don't know about heroin abuse by doctors but will say that nurses seem to heavily use Xanex to relieve the stress at the end of the day (and prescriptions are easy to come by in their profession).

There have been some cases raised by patients/families in the care of drug addicts but largely the problem goes unnoticed.

When I went to the hospital for my dad's heart surgery, I wandered to one area and found the outdoor gather place where doctors and nurse (and other largely medical staff) smoked cigarettes. No crime in that, just that one would think that they would see enough sick people to put them off that habit.

Cigarettes don't notably affect job performance although the case could be made that Xanex and other prescription meds (used by medical staff) do.

Rush was not operating heavy machinery sitting at a table behind a microphone either. Ed McMahon may have gone on the Tonight Show bombed on drinks at times but did it really affect his performance? A number of people seem to "fondly" recall those nights. If you are the captain of a boat, have a few too many, and let someone else command the ship, you are liable to get some flack about it (even if you weren't behind the wheel).

31 posted on 10/20/2003 12:30:44 PM PDT by weegee
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To: WackyKat; *Wod_list
In the War on Drugs, there are two types of junkies:
1) Rush Limbaugh

And Noelle Bush.

2) Everyone else.

32 posted on 10/20/2003 12:32:52 PM PDT by MrLeRoy (The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. - Jefferson)
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To: weegee
"His critics will continue to shout and wail. They are also a bunch of lying liars."

. . .'lying liars' aka 'Liberals'. . .

Guess they save all their compassion for the likes of Robert Downey, Jr.; and have forgotten just how addicted JFK was to pain medication as well.

Do worry about Rush's pain however; and hope that he is able to resolve that one; and yes, perhaps more alternatives now.

Hope as well, that he is 'as up' for taking on the painful negatives of our daily 'body politic' as he was before.

33 posted on 10/20/2003 12:34:27 PM PDT by cricket
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To: Arpege92
He was probably hospitalized for a minimum of three days to make sure he didn't suffer too badly from the initial withdrawal and to monitor his vitals and watch out for seizures.

The rest of the stay is usually a 12-step kind of program with a lot of group meetings and homework to help understand the scope of the addiction.

Many rehabs have dorm style rooms (usually two clients share a room) and community meals.
34 posted on 10/20/2003 12:47:06 PM PDT by annyokie (One good thing about being wrong is the joy it brings to others.)
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To: weegee
I am of course using "herion" in the broad sense. Oxycontin, demoral, morphine, etc. are all basically the same as herion. A good deal of abuse of those drugs by medical professionals has been documented.
35 posted on 10/20/2003 12:50:30 PM PDT by Hugin
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To: Arpege92
why do rehab centers promote this thirty days business?

Because that is the time limit most employee health insurers set for paying for drug rehab services.

36 posted on 10/20/2003 12:50:41 PM PDT by berserker
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To: berserker
Reminds me of the reports of Spring ShadowsGlen in Houston in the 1980s. They would take "difficult" kids in and milk the insurance companies for awhile. When the insurance ran out, the kids were "cured".
37 posted on 10/20/2003 1:06:46 PM PDT by weegee
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To: Arpege92

I think it has mostly to do with the length of time insurance will pay for the trip.
38 posted on 10/20/2003 1:08:28 PM PDT by 1st-P-In-The-Pod
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To: thulldud
True..
39 posted on 10/20/2003 1:08:54 PM PDT by Zipporah
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To: JohnGalt
Regards, and I will be sure to mark the occasion with a pint of ale over dinner tonight!

Careful, they tell me that stuff is addictive.

40 posted on 10/20/2003 1:21:20 PM PDT by TomB
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