Hollywood Stars Walk as Prosecutors Target Rush

newsmax.com ^ | Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2004 | James Hirsen

[blackbart.223]

"As the Limbaugh case moves forward, you can bet that 20 million of his closest friends will be watching – and hoping he gets equal treatment under the law and a fair shake.

I wouldn't count on that. Bill and Hillary will try to see to that.

[ellery]

Celebrity status is irrelevant in this case, as we have not yet codified a separate justice system for the rich and famous. It would be much more relevant if this article compared how Rush is being treated to how all others in the same circumstances are treated -- both celebrities and non-celebrities.

The fact is, there are other cases in Florida of non-celebrity people (in some cases veterans) becoming addicted to painkillers then being arrested for doctor shopping. Anyone who believes Rush should not be prosecuted should likewise take up the cause of all the anonymous citizens arrested for doing the same thing. Equal protection under the law. /rant

[cwb]

I just caught the last 10 minutes of Roy Black on Scaraborough's show. He was saying the same things...and that this is a witch hunt. The fact that they have gone from a drug-ring to money laundering to now searching Rush's medical files, indicates they are looking for something they don't have. Black also pointed out that someone in the prosecutors office is leaking (unsubstantiated) material to the media in violation of federal law. As he put it...this is a witch hunt.

[Katya]

Isn't Tommy Chong sitting in jail for selling bongs? No, all this drug prosecution crap is a waste of my money. I don't care if people want to be stupid, there's no law against it. If they want to concentrate on dealers only, I could probably live with that...but adult users put behind bars on my dollar...puhleeze.

[cwb]

"The fact is, there are other cases in Florida of non-celebrity people (in some cases veterans) becoming addicted to painkillers then being arrested for doctor shopping."

Could you please provide a link for this claim. According to Black and a story done on FNC, there has never been a conviction for the crime of Dr. Shopping...in Florida. In fact, the story pointed out that since 1987, only one case was brought foward but the defendant was involved in more than just Dr. Shopping...and he died before the case came to court. Source please.

[JoeSchem]

It used to be that conservatives could claim that liberals held such absurd ideas because they were on drugs. Thanks to Rush, we can no longer use this line.

I'm not pleased with him.

[Auntie Dem]

The Palm Beach Post recently reported that over the last five years, the number of cases of doctor-shopping that have been fully prosecuted in Palm Beach County is zero.

The article would seem to contradict your "facts". Care to provide us with the names of those ordinary people who you allege were prosecuted?

[Doctor Stochastic]

The "everyone else is doing it" defense?

Dumb argument (irrespective of Rush's case.)

[Jabba the Nutt]

If Rush supports the drug laws, he should turn himself in, demand to be charged and plead guilty. His actions speak louder than his words. Drug laws apply to others, not to Rush.

If I had one question to ask Rush, I'd ask him this: "Rush, you've said one reason you support drug prohibition is that drugs destroy people's souls. You're a drug addict, was your soul destroyed?"

[BiffWondercat]

But Mom! Billy stole and torched the car, I only stole a car! Why am I getting grounded! At least I didn't burn it!

No Fair!

[templar]

The fact is, there are other cases in Florida of non-celebrity people (in some cases veterans) becoming addicted to painkillers then being arrested for doctor shopping.

How many cases (overall and per year) and what is the usual result in conviction ratios and sentencing of those convicted? I've been kinda thinkin' that the whole thing would have been handled differently if it wasn't about Rush (and I'm not particularly interested in Rush one way or the other).

[cwb]

"If Rush supports the drug laws, he should turn himself in..."

I guess I missed it...but what law has he been charged with breaking?

[_Jim]

If Rush supports the drug laws,

Where'd you see or hear that anyway?

The enquirer or the evening news?

Seems to me this is a presumption without basis - a LOT of that going around lately ...

[bayourod]

It must be nice to afford drug rehab. Most of the crack addicts I've known didn't have that option. They just wondered how much time they had left. There is no hope. No future. No self esteem. Not even the chance of a real funeral with a real casket. They truly did lose their souls to despair. It's nothing to joke about.

[drjimmy]

As usual, Newsmax simply throws a bunch of stuff against the wall, hopes at least some of it will stick, and hopes most of its readers won't realize what a load of crap it is. In nearly all of the examples cited in the article, the celebrities were charged with crimes and had their cases adjudicated! So if Newsmax really wanted Rush to be treated the same way as these Hollywood stars, it would be demanding that Rush be arrested, and then make sure that Rush gets the same opportunities to plead guilty to a lesser offense and be sent to a diversion program like many of the celebs.

[ellery]

No problem. A quick google turned up these two recent references from Florida -- this, from by no means a comprehensive search:

"In addition, Sheriff’s detectives arrest 28 St. Lucie County residents on prescription fraud, “doctorshopping” and other drug-related offenses."
http://www.stluciesheriff.com/annual-report/2001/ar_2001_11-15.pdf

"In July, 24 people were arrested as part of a drug sting in St. Lucie County, where law enforcement and pharmacies cooperated to disrupt an informal distribution network. Most of the 24 who were arrested were once legitimately ill or disabled and living off Social Security or veteran’s benefits that enabled them to get prescriptions."
FDLE Office of Statewide Intelligence Prescription Drug Abuse – August 2001
http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:NiC8jgWB6LcJ:www.fdle.state.fl.us/OSI/CrimeBriefs/RxAbuse.pdf+oxycontin+arrest+statistics&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[ellery]

I said "Florida." Please see post 18.

[Richard Kimball]

Without providing reference, I believe I've read here on Freep that in Palm Beach County that there has been one other doctor shopping charge filed in the five years since the legislature passed the law, and the DA's office did that in an attempt to get information on drug dealers. I researched the number of police officers, etc. in Palm Beach County and the FBI stats on crime there. It came out to something like 72,000 crime reports a year for crimes against people and property. These numbers included murder, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, armed robbery, and theft of motor vehicles. It does not include any vice crimes, such as gambling, prostitution or drug sales or use. According to the Palm Beach County web site, there are something like 1100 sworn officers. The population base given on the first link is 1,097,962, and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office lists served population at just over 600,000, so I'd assume the city has another 800 or so sworn police officers. This still comes out to over thirty crimes per day per sworn officer before even looking at vice operations, money laundering, embezzlement, shoplifting, simple assault, traffic accidents, suicides, drownings, etc.

With the number of police and DA office hours that have already been put into Limbaugh's case, it's obvious that he's being targeted.

Another poster (I'll ping him in a minute), wrote to you that there is uneven enforcement of drug laws. This is true, and there are several reasons. In Texas, where I live, small town cops are mostly bored. They'll pull you over for a license plate light being out. I've had a guy jump a median and follow me for two miles to pull me over for not signalling a lane change when there wasn't a car within a half mile of me on my side of the highway. One guy pulled me over, asked for my license, shot the sh*t for about 10 minutes and then let me go without ever telling me why he stopped me. A two ounce marijuana bust is a BIG deal to these guys.

In larger cities in Texas, you've got to DO something for cops to bother with you. I made a fire with my FD (big city), and the fire was started by the guy's marijuana lamp. He gutted a couple of apartments, but there was still a lot of dope around his place. Police were already on scene. We asked them what to do, they said "who cares?" and left. We made him pour it out and promise never to be burning down multiple apartments with his marijuana light again.

I've got mixed feelings about drug legalization, but for the most part, drug laws are a tool to lean on people or a way to have a 100% solved crime rate, since nobody files a crime report on drugs unless a bust is made.