Hmmm very good question. Unknown. If he is an addict then fine go seek help with your problem and get treated. But if found that his actions to obtain these drugs were illegal which may ver well be then he should be prosecuted. I believe others in here in saying that he was using his back as an excuse to obtain drugs he was addicted to. Now that his hands were caught in the cookie jar he repents to his listeners. How did he play golf when in so much pain anyway?
Well the golf question is an interesting one. He obviously had a very, very painful condition with his coccyx bone prior to 1998, when he had it removed. I hav done some reading on this condition, and you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy. I think it is possible that he obtained a substantial amount of relief from the surgery, but that he may have already been addicted at that time
I guess my primary disappointment with Rush is that I would have expected him to be a much smarter, stronger person than one who would allow himself be an addict. He should have gotten help a long time ago.
I still don't think it makes him fair game for a politically motivated prosecutor to go after him when they do not typically criminally charge people for this 'crime', whatever the crime du jour is.