[onyx]

Rush got addicted to the prescribed medication, and no doctor could or would prescribe the amounts needed to maintain Rush's habit without jeopardizing his license to practice medicine. Furthermore, a pharmacy would not fill a script with a dosage in the amounts Rush used: 20 + pills a day.

I agree with you that Rush may have started out trying to self-medicate, but his habit (and dependency) quickly exellerated into a euphoric need for more and more pills.

CP --- help me out here, please. Have I overlooked anything?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

You have the pathology of this addiction down cold. The one thing that I would add is that in a number of these patients, the pain experienced after the addiction takes hold has a psychosomatic quality which is brought on by the addiction.

[longtermmemmory]

An internet pharmacy was just closed in miami. No arrests of patients, just lost its license. All perscriptions were reportedly obtained legally by the patients.

You can use more than one doctor. I am aware of a defendant that was going to FOUR doctors. She had each one once a month fill a perscription they thought was only for the whole month not the week. She got nailed and put into drug court because she phoned in a fake perscription to a pharmacy which was checked.

You may have overlooked the point that the pain may have been real. Real pain in need of real treatment.

[greasepaint]

I agree with you to the extent that...at some point,
no doctor would supply him with a large number of pills.
......
>I agree with you that Rush may have started out trying to self-medicate,<
for the sake of argument, assume so.
Why would he do this?