Posted on 10/14/2003 4:04:21 PM PDT by ambrose
A fair number of Independents could be lured in, or back to, the Democratic Party. For me, a litmus test for that would have to be confronting the Drug War, and as I see the media and the Democratic presidential contenders both taking a huge whiff on the opportunity the Rush Limbaugh story provides, I am not encouraged.
For many years, I've been asked 'why do you read the Enquirer?' and have always said, "because I want to know what's going to be in the New York Times next week."
So, a week after I read the Limbaugh story in the Enquirer I read the rehash of it today in the Times, and again: Media, Pols, hello! If any time was the perfect time to make the case about the massive double standard that is the Drug War, this is it. Rush tearfully talks about his addition to a "medication." Yeah, well everybody likes their "medication" in different forms, pally. It would be funny, but substantially the same thing, if on the 6:30 news they sold bourbon and had the voice intone, "Ask your doctor if Jack Daniels is right for you."
Or pot or whatever it is that mixes better with your body chemistry. Because that's all the Drug War is, persecuting people with a different body chemistry than Plan A. Why does one person like scotch, and another loathes it and likes vodka? Or one like cocaine, and another Metabolife?
Who gives a f**k, that's why. The bottom line is, we all pick our poison and shouldn't arbitrarily punish and shame some, and accept and coddle others. There's nothing about preferring the high from oxycontin or liquor or speed (caffeine, ephedra, etc - speed, the drug America really loves) that makes you morally superior to people who like pot or mushrooms or even heroin for that matter, because that's what Oxycontin is, heroin in a pill. Gee, no wonder it's popular.
When it comes to Rush and pills, an analagous situation would be Reagan and guns. After Reagan got shot, what an opportunity to change that debate on guns! Who could argue about at least debating it while he lay in the hospital from a gunshot wound - like how JFK's program got passed so easily after his assassination, or even Bush's after 911.
But Reagan whiffed. Rush has the chance to change America for the better here. But it must involve his admitting the fundamental truths about drugs:
A: Almost all Americans do them, legal or otherwise; B: It's wrong to inconsistently treat fact A.
And Rush, if you don't see it that way yet, let me put it like this: When you're furtively meeting people in parking lots and exchanging ANYTHING in cigar boxes through car windows - OK, that's a drug addict. Issues of personal responsibility is where I often walked with Rush, and this is a classic. A true test of the man. If he comes out of rehab and says, 'I was wrong about our approach to drugs,' he could single handedly change the way America looks at this problem. If he admits that what separates him and Noelle Bush from crackheads is nothing. Nothing except money, race and lawyers. OK, well that is actually quite a lot. But nothing in the way that makes one of them a stronger or better human being. And that's what Rush has to say:
"I am no better or stronger than a crackhead. I lived for the drug, just like he did; obsessed about getting it all the time, like he did; corrputed and lied about everything else in my life - career, health (the hearing problem is related to this, no doubt - check the amount he was taking daily - Elvis is going "whoa, dude, slow down with that s**t"), relationships, like he did. And we both deserve the same treatment: compassion!"
Because Rush wants, and is already getting, a lot of compassion for this. Let me add my full hearted endorsement of that, and hope for a successful rehab, and a happy life for him whatever he wants to do thereafter. Rush Limbaugh was the first one to say "Bill Maher was right" when I was in the hot seat after 911, and I will always appreciate and remember that. He also has a good sense of humor, and enjoys jokes I've done about him. I want to be able to back him.
But he's gotta keep it real when he gets out. If he starts living the morally indefensible double standard he has been defending his whole career, game over. He learned nothing, or is too weak to admit it. That would be a shame, because I think he has it in him to do this, and the power and accomplishment from turning this battleship around would be, well - a rush.
Posted by safesearching at October 13, 2003 01:14 PM
What you and I may percieve as recreational use could be in actuality, self medication. I had an aunt who used Boonesfarm wine to increase her appetite. A friend who uses marijuana to relieve anxiety after a tramatic car accident. In some instances people are seeking a remedy to their pain, emotional or physical.
Which is to say its one of the most addictive substances on the planet?
Yep. Took me 40 years to quit, but it's just a matter of will power and want to. It is not some strange monster that other people can't understand. It is not impossible.
So9
Lois would be proud!
I am sick and tired of erroneous comment regarding pain treatments and Oxy-Contin.
What I have posted here is the truth and is also based on MY actual experiences with the drug over the past four years. Plus, I have added the research and documentation that I have gathered on the same subject.
Oxy-Contin IS a legitimate treatment for back pain. It is addictive and in this case the addiction is a normal side effect, not a damn sign of friggin abuse of a drug.(excuse my French)
You folks are some of the most bone headed people and you distaste for Rush shines through your bogus and not so insightful argument.
What Rush apparently did was to fail at managing an addiction, not that he got addicted. Everyone who uses the drug over time gets addicted. Read what I have posted on this subject.
Enjoy and relish in your ignorance, and by the way...............Good morning to you too!
The root is the desire to be pain free and live a normal life.
Golf, sex, walking, etc.
Oxy-codone drugs can make that possible. The key is to manage the addiction to the drug and to be honest with yourself about the side effects of the addiction that always happens.
It would be so much better if the pain drugs were effective but not addicting. Unfortunately they are not because they mimic the bodies own natural pain killers called endorphins. This is what causes the physical addiction.
A pain patient has to understand this and not get carried away with the dose. This involves accepting some degree of pain.
Rush apparently failed to do this. He wished to be totally free of pain and self medicated. This is a mistake.
As to the legalities, I will leave that to others to comment upon, but the addiction is NOT the mistake. It is but a side effect of the drug.
I have. I'm sorry you're a drug addict, but that's what you are: a drug addict. Big deal---it doesn't make you a bad person. But the lawyerly way in which you've tried to parlay Rush's drug dependency as something other than what it really is is only so much mental gymnastics.I also have a hard time believing a medical doctor could abet someone's drug addiction and retain their license to practice medicine, but since I don't know this to be true, and you seem to think it happens regularly, so be it. It doesn't really matter, though, because what's been alleged is that Rush was seeking Hillbilly H on the black market either to augment his legitimate script or horde away for a rainy day . . . whatever . . . which, of course, is highly illegal. If these allegations are proved true, I hope he goes up the river for a long, long, long time---just like any one of us would (except the rich and famous). If and when that happens, we'll see if he's a hypocrite or not.
Those were never meant to be a lifetime med, no matter what the incompetent malpractitioner prescribing it for you is saying.
LOL! Actually, constipation is probably the most aggravating side effect of using the drug.
I use Docusate to keep things moving.
There are no other options for treatment. But, I don't expect you to understand that.
The addiction that comes with the drug is not un-manageable. I can withdraw and change drugs in a week. It is uncomfortable but not difficult to do.
The wrong assumption is yours. You see addiction as a disease and label it wrongly as a failure when in fact it (in this case of pain management) is a side effect.
thankfully, there are some doctors that specialize and or understand this.
It took me some time to find one. During that time I suffered from severe depression. It almost became deadly.
You would ask me to go back to that? You would ask me to go back to never leaving the house and laying in a recliner 24/7.
I would commit a crime before I would do that. And you would be guilty as well.
Reputed is the operative word.
They more or less will make you sick, not high. But.......people do stupid things.
Now heroin and natural opiates do get you grinning from ear to ear.
Oxicodone is a sythetic molecule that mimics the pain relieving qualities. It has little or no real high, as I would describe it, however when mixed with alchohol it enhances the effect of the alchohol very highly.
This is what they are doing with it. All it takes is a couple of beers to do the trick.
I guess it would be political sacrilidge to point out that everyone seems to be taking his word on that part.
(donning my flak jacket,,,again)
I get a total blood and liver function test every 3-4 months.
This is necessary when using Oxy-codone as well as other types of drugs on a regular basis.
The reasons for my advocacy of these drugs is obvious. These are medical and quality of life issues, not junkie blasting.
I try to point out the difference and the motives behind addiction to prescription pain drugs.
There is a difference and bagging everyone together is dangerous to those who use the drugs correctly and legally.
Furthermore, making it difficult to find a Dr. who is willing to manage someone pain problem is devastating to many who need this service.
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