This dog don't hunt.
First of all, the liberal press had to search through hundreds of radio commentaries to find them: the few comments Rush had made on ILLEGAL recreational drug abuse.
There is a world of difference between illegal cocaine and heroin addiction and prescribed pain killers becoming an addiction problem when precribed for a specific ailment. Rush did not CHOOSE to take these pills to get high... he HAD to take them to function.
My mother has multiple compression fractures of her spine... she has just been increased to two (2) hydrocodone every 4 hours to control the pain. That's 10 a day times 30 days times 6 months... equals 1800 pills. The 2000 that were prescribed for Limbaugh in a six month period is not that out of line for people suffering from intractable pain.
I agree these prescribed painkiller drugs are VERY addictive. I watched a friend develop a dependency within a month of her prescription. Luckily for her she recognized what was happening and quit cold turkey, and it was not easy for her. She still had the pain, but realized what a slippery slope they were and how adversly they were impacting her work. If ANYONE takes painkillers, be careful.
"Rush did not CHOOSE to take these pills to get high... he HAD to take them to function."
There is a little debate on that point also...
"I took the drugs because I liked them and I found excuses to take them, so I'm not weaseling. I'm just saying that one of the things was that I did not put my health first."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/11/17/235030.shtml
He's not being charge for his addition, he's being charged for doctor shopping. While doctor shopping is certainly a less violent felony than what you might encounter on the streets buying cocaine or heroin, it's a felony, none the less and still punishable.