[birbear]

If Rush is on drugs, he's sure not fitting my impression of what somebody on drugs can function like.

Please don't take this personally, but perhaps your impression is wrong. I would have had the same impression, and I'm thinking that I'm wrong.

I'm not aware of him ever having been spaced out, zonked out, slurred, etc.

I've noticed over the past few years that he seemed kind of slow on understanding some of his callers points. I attributed it to just getting older and his brain just being filled with too much information. Which may very well be the case. But, perhaps, it's because his mind was slower because of the effects of medications.

I've also noticed over the past few years (and I know this has been a complaint of many of his fans for years) he seems to have taken a lot of time off. Could very well be for extremely legit reasons. Heck, if I was my own boss and had Rush's money, I'd take a lot of time off too. But maybe the time off is related to his possible (mis)uses of medications.

Has anybody here ever known him to show signs of drug use?

We only have access to him 3 hours a day, 5 days a week... (less than that actually)... He's a professional, an entertainer, and he's been doing radio for most of his professional life. I imagine he can do a typical show on "cruise" control and most of the audience would never think twice that he wasn't at 100%.

Just goes to show, that he really can do a show, with "half his brain tied behind his back, just to make it fair."

[lelio]

I've noticed over the past few years that he seemed kind of slow on understanding some of his callers points.

His callers have points? 90% of the time its "dittos and here's a softball for you to hit out of the park." I wish he would can the callin segments and cut his show to 2 hours with just monologue.

[newgeezer]

Just goes to show, that he really can do a show, with "half his brain tied behind his back, ..."

I guess he found out that doesn't work if the show is on ESPN.

[Concerned]

BIRBEAR WROTE: "I've noticed over the past few years that he seemed kind of slow on understanding some of his callers points. I attributed it to just getting older and his brain just being filled with too much information."

Are you aware that he suddenly lost virtually all of his hearing some time back and had to have a cochlear (sp?) implant? The implant is NOT failsafe and it still takes a split second or two for him to understand what someone has just said so he can respond to it.

My Mom has been hard of hearing all my life (she is basically deaf without her hearing aids) and from time to time, she will THINK you asked one thing when you ACTUALLY asked something else, or she may not hear you at all, resulting in a long pause. It can lead to some strange answers. It usually happens when her batteries run out of juice.