Posted on 06/27/2006 2:29:14 AM PDT by Caipirabob
Rush Limbaugh was briefly detained Monday at Palm Beach International Airport when customs agents inspected the conservative talk show host's luggage and found Viagra that belonged to two Florida doctors, authorities said.
"He was not arrested," Palm Beach County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Pete Palenzuela said.
Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black, issued a statement through a spokesman saying that agents found a "non-narcotic prescription drug, which had been prescribed by Mr. Limbaugh's treating physician but labeled as being issued to the physician rather than Mr. Limbaugh for privacy purposes."
Limbaugh, 55, of Palm Beach, and three others arrived on a private jet from the Dominican Republic to the General Air Facility at PBIA on Monday afternoon, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service said.
Agents searched the plane during a routine customs inspection and found a pill bottle that was not in Limbaugh's name, said Jennifer Connors, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman. Agents confiscated the medicine and called the Sheriff's Office, which took over the investigation.
"Mr. Limbaugh was cooperative. He gave a statement that he had a bottle in his possession and that it was Viagra," said sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller, who noted that the prescription was filled in Florida.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
Many's the time that instead of writing a prescription my dr. simply handed me a bag of sample medication. My name's not on any of them.
I don't think either one of us will ever be prosecuted.
It's not a sin or a crime to have viagra and I'm amazed that some people are making a big deal of this.
Very true.I've received samples once or twice myself.These samples always came in packages that said "sample,not for sale" on them and never included more that a few pills.
Viagra is nothing new for them to give out.
Yes,I think I recall seeing ads that said something like "your doctor has sample packs available".
While I don't think it would have been necessary for him to carry it in someone else's container, it is still a non-issue if the Dr gave it to him as a sample.
That's the crux of the matter.How many pills were involved? Did the bottle have the doctor's name on it? Were the pills from a prescription that the doctor wrote for himself (which was common practice when I worked in the medical biz some time ago) and was it filled by a pharmacy in the same fashion that millions are filled every day at your neighborhood Walgreen's?
These are questions that the Palm Beach County prosecutor may very well be asking in the days (weeks...months?) to come.I,for one,fear that Rush may have made a big mistake here...even though it's only Viagra that's involved.
When a person establishes himself as an embodiment of moral character, but reveals himself to be an imbiber of hedonism, it is the business of everyone to whom he proclaims it.
When a person says, "Listen to me!" then, procedes to live directly opposite what they proclaim, there message is of no effect.
Only if the evidence will stand up in court...
My sense is that if the Palm Beach prosecutor spends more than two days thinking about this he will be either laughed or voted out of office.
I would have never guessed there was a secondary use for Viagra. The tv commercials never mention it.
Rush is a political commentator not a pastor of a church. Get off your high horse and keep your business out of what he does in his bedroom. It's God's business, not yours.
And do they always release this information to the press to embarrass people? Is that custom for customs?
You win!!!
The agent was a woman.
Plus she is fat and ugly to boot!
In Palm Beach County? A county that's made up very largely of rich liberals from NY,MA and NJ? I suspect that you might be wrong on that one!
I guess I figured that even libs had some sense of the meaning of phrases like "beyond the pale," "jumping the shark," etc.
Exactly! He's a radio host! If it was illegal it would be one thing, but it isn't. Was Rush's privacy violated? Perhaps there were laws broken, but not by Rush.
I read it contained 29 pills.
How do you know?
My guess -- and it's an educated guess, but still just a guess -- is that another passenger in the Customs line recognized Rush, saw him taken aside, and blurted to the media. Or an airport employee, often courted as sources by local reporters, saw what was going on and called in. The official statement, and Rush's statement (through his lawyer) were in response to press inquiries.
The Palm Beach Sheriff's statement was not the first report on the story. A local station said it had confirmed the story through unnamed sources hours before the first official statement. From that, I infer that the official statements from both sides were reactive.
And rather than intended to embarrass Rush, they were a reasonable move to correct the record -- while Viagra will certainly provoke chuckles (and already has, even on FR), it would be worse to leave incomplete information and the inevitable speculation that the unnamed prescription drugs were painkillers.
Yes, exactly and these fools on high horses should shudder at the fact that his privacy is being played out before the entire world.
If that's correct then I'd be willing to bet that the "it was just a sample" defense wouldn't work.It will be interesting to see if Rush does his show today and,if he does,just what (if anything) he has to say.
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