Posted on 01/04/2004 7:17:34 PM PST by Matchett-PI
I thought that doctor shopping was hunting out a doctor who would write the prescription you wanted (say Dr.X won't prescribe abc-tin or renew your prescription for abc-tin, keep getting diagnosises until you find one who will).
If a patient cannot go to multiple doctors then how is one supposed to get a "second opinion"?
There is also a bit of hypocrisy from the left over this. Lenny Bruce is still held up as a patron saint of free speech by the left and the documentary To Tell The Truth played up the notion that his drug busts were just a way to hassle Mr. Bruce; that his drugs were all by prescription (even though he had a letter that was basically a get out of jail free doctor's note). Lenny Bruce even denied his addiction in his own autobiography, saying that he used needles because he couldn't stomach asprin.
The actions of one do not clear another's name but the left has no consistancy on this issue. Lenny Bruce was a comedian. Lenny Bruce was a junkie (who died of his addiction). Lenny Bruce challenged social mores with speech. I don't see Lenny's comedy to be a left/right mentality thing, it's just that the left seems to hold him up as a virtuous man. The things that Rush Limbaugh says at times can be just as outrageous as what Lenny said and to do so in the era of political correctness is a daring thing.
Where was the FReeper outcry demanding prosecution of Oliver Stone or the producer of The West Wing for their drug offenses? And "civilians" in their communites are routinely charged with possession of illegal substances.
Does anyone think that Dr. Feelgood of the 1960s has gone away? There have always been doctors who would provide celebs (and nobodies) with the prescriptions they want, it's just a matter of finding those doctors.
Governor Jeb Bush's daughter was caught forging prescriptions to feed her addiction and FReepers felt sorry for her but didn't call for charges against her to be dropped. They did find it odd that articles about her arrest would cite the President of the US in the headline. Such articles ran for weeks yet Albert Gore Junior Junior's recent arrest for driving his car at night slow, without headlights off, while smoking pot got narry a mention.
There is a double standard to the coverage such stories receive but FReepers don't seem to call for different standards in prosecution.
(Unproven) "Hypocrisy" or not, what Rush says on the air is "right".
Unofficial Summary of the Rush Limbaugh Show
for Friday, May 24, 1996
by John Switzer
This unofficial summary is copyright (c) 1996 by John Switzer (jswitzer@limbaugh.com). All Rights Reserved.
<<Because of the Memorial Day holiday, today's show is a "Best of Rush show." The first hour of today's show is a repeat of the first hour of the show that originally aired on Wednesday, April 24, 1996>>
FIRST HOUR
Items
o Rush is finally starting to feel like normal again, having gotten over both his cold and some back pain that he started having last Saturday morning. He awoke with the most excruciating pain he'd ever felt, and it didn't go away despite all the stretching exercises he tried.
Rush discovered that the position of least pain was looking straight down at the floor, adding for the sake of his staff, that he bent over at the neck, not at the waist. All throughout the weekend Rush agonized about this, and since he doesn't have a family doctor, he asked friends whom he should see.
His friends recommended a doctor who told him that he had a pinched nerve, and who prescribed some medication to help dull the pain. Other than that, all Rush could do was apply anti-inflammatory ointments, and he's eventually recovered.
However, the medication was so strong that for the past three days Rush has had to think real hard about what day of the week it was. Today, though, he's finally been able to think coherently without making a real effort.
Of course, Rush knows his listeners would never have known anything about his being impaired had he not told them, given how professional a broadcaster he is. He has to wonder how anyone could get stoned on drugs that make them feel like this.
The entire day's summary is linked here: Unofficial Summary of the Rush Limbaugh Show for Friday, May 24, 1996
So what? Doesn't "the law is the law and should be always be enforced" still apply here?
Start clamoring for ALL enforcement of this law and I might consider reading the rest of your post. A partisan DA using Rush as the only prosecutorial example is a travesty of justice.
The day he starts venting about sending criminals to prison and adding new police powers is the day I stop listening. But he won't. His whole message is social optimism and the limitless opportunity for free Americans to make it on their own, free of government help or hindrance.
Anyway, there is no "conservative" position on legalization. Conservatives can and do disagree on this, and have debated the question for a very long time. The usual points were brought out in the discussion you cited, that drug abuse is destructive, but that prohibition never works. So what do you do, legalize and perhaps encourage destructive behavior? Or retain a ban on drugs as at least a reminder that drug abuse is not good for society? There's no decisive answer.
You're right. It doesn't. It would be desperate to claim that it did. He puts his views on the line every day. Refute them or not the old-fashioned way, please, with facts and logic -- not by attacking his character.
We might add that he did astoundingly well in presenting his views despite the pain-killers. They did not mess up his mind. If he had started stumbling either in his speech or in his thinking, we'd never have heard the end of it.
So you believe the people selling the drugs to RL should be prosecuted? While he gets a pass?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.