Free Republic

Citizens in four states vote Tuesday on ballot initiatives to legalize some form of cannabis. Residents of Missouri and Utah will decide on its medical availability, Michigan and North Dakota on recreational consumption for adults. If all four measures pass, the tally of states that allow some sort of cannabis use will jump to 32, nearly two-thirds of the U.S. The trend could not be clearer: Cannabis prohibition is coming to an end. A Gallup poll last month found 66% of Americans favor legal marijuana. I am now one of those Americans. It began when a friend of mine who...

Doctors from numerous hospitals set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes to explain public employees' absences from work. Family physician Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out hundreds of notes. Many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from stress, he said. "What employers have a right to know is if the patient was assessed by a duly licensed physician about time off of work," Sanner said. "Employers don't have a right to know the nature of that conversation or the nature of that illness. So it's as valid as every...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Prosecutors argued in court Tuesday that they should be allowed to speak with Rush Limbaugh's doctors as part the investigation into whether the conservative talk show commentator illegally purchased painkillers. Meanwhile, Limbaugh's attorneys wanted the judge to hold prosecutors in contempt for allegedly giving information to the news media, the Palm Beach Post reported. Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black, argued that confidentiality between a doctor and patient is a privilege that even criminal investigators cannot penetrate. "They cannot force Mr. Limbaugh to supply their evidence for them," Black said. Assistant State Attorney James Martz said he...

Editor, the Tribune: Rush Limbaugh is not deserving of our pity. He is alleged to have committed the crime of obtaining narcotics unlawfully by going to multiple doctors to get more narcotics for the same condition. The crime is not that he became addicted. Going through rehab is not atonement for criminal behavior. His rigorous defense and appeals through the courts indicate he has no intention of admitting wrongdoing. Should we drop prosecution of the addict who steals if he admits to being an addict? Prescription opiates like the ones Limbaugh abused are for sale on the streets of Columbia...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Florida prosecutors head to court Monday to get access to Rush Limbaugh's medical records. Palm Beach County is investigating alleged prescription-drug abuse. Records were seized in late 2003. Prosecutors want to see if the radio commentator went "doctor shopping" for pain medication. Limbaugh has not been charged with any crime. He's denied any wrongdoing. Limbaugh's attorneys have fought the seizures, claiming a violation of privacy rights. But last month, the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal, clearing the way for prosecutors to seek the documents. Limbaugh acknowledged his addiction to pain medication in...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The Florida Supreme Court says it won't consider an appeal from conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh. Today's four-to-three order didn't explain the court's reasoning. Limbaugh's attorney argues that an appeals court misconstrued Florida law when it ruled prosecutors could review the records. Prosecutors seized Limbaugh's medical records in 2003 for an investigation into whether he illegally purchased prescription painkillers. Limbaugh hasn't been charged with any crime. He lost at the appellate court level and wanted the Florida Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that would open his medical records and possibly allow prosecutors to build a case...

The state’s core argument is that prosecutors do not have to comply with section 395.3025(4)(d), Fla. Stat. According to the state, it is bound only by the requirements of the Florida and federal constitutions, not the Florida statutes, because the Florida legislature cannot provide Florida citizens with greater protections than those provided by the constitution. The state contends that it can unilaterally decide not to comply with a Florida statute, and that a citizen such as Mr. Limbaugh has no recourse when the state violates a provision of Florida law such as section 395.3025(4)(d). This arrogant argument flouts the...

Palm Beach prosecutors investigating Rush Limbaugh all but admitted this week that they currently have no real evidence that the number one radio host violated Florida's drug laws - and won't be able to prosecute the top talker for "doctor shopping" unless a judge lets them look for evidence in Limbaugh's confidential medical files. State Attorney Barry Krischer made the startling admission in a brief filed with Florida's 4th District Court of Appeals, which is currently weighing whether Limbaugh's medical records are fair game. In the filing Krischer confessed, "The State will not be in a position to know what...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Prosecutors rejected a deal Rush Limbaugh's attorney suggested that would have seen the conservative radio commentator enter a drug intervention program rather than face charges for illegally obtaining prescription painkillers, records show. Instead, Palm Beach County prosecutors wanted Limbaugh to plead guilty to the third-degree felony of "doctor shopping" - visiting several doctors to receive duplicate prescriptions of a controlled narcotic. According to records of exchanges between prosecutors and Limbaugh's attorney, the prosecutors' offer included three years' probation, participation in a drug treatment program and random drug testing. Limbaugh has been under investigation for months,...

Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh is gaining some allies in his pain-pill case, including many of the medical profession's pain specialists. "We're filing an amicus brief arguing that his medical records should not be released," said Dr. Jane Orient of Tucson, Ariz., executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. Limbaugh, 53, is under investigation for allegations of doctor-shopping to get prescriptions for painkillers. Investigators say they believe Limbaugh bought more than 2,000 pills illegally over a five-month period. Court records show Limbaugh suffers from back pain and completed a monthlong drug-rehabilitation program in November. Orient fears if...

Suddenly Rush Limbaugh Is Concerned About Conspiracies By Chuck Baldwin Food For Thought From The Chuck Wagon January 6, 2004 Nationally syndicated radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has seen the light, or maybe felt the heat. In either case, he suddenly realizes the consequences of living in a society where government agencies have unfettered access to personal information and where individuals have little or no constitutional protections. Welcome back, Rush. For years, Limbaugh has impugned, denigrated, and chastised any caller who dared bring up the subject of federal encroachment on individual liberties, calling them "conspiracy nuts," or worse. He...

Health Department works to educate on antibiotic misuse People see antibiotics as a cure-all, but inappropriate use can diminish the benefits, doctors say. By Allison Fashek rep8@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - When people get sick, they tend to want antibiotics. Jodee Tschirhart, nurse manager at the Cheyenne Children's Clinic, sees it on a daily basis. "They think antibiotics are a cure-all," she said. But as doctors have been saying for many years, taking antibiotics when you don't need them can cause the drugs not to work when you do need them. And the issue of drug resistance...

Must be nice living in Florida. The crime rate must be so low that Democrat State Attorneys can spend all their time and energy going after a harmless little fuzzball with all kinds of trumped-up charges.

RAIDS ON RUSH ARE DETAILED Warrants: He Broke Drug Laws West Palm Beach, Fla. - A Palm Beach County law enforcement task force investigating whether Rush Limbaugh illegally obtained prescription painkillers seized the talk show host's medical records from three doctors, according to search warrants made public yesterday. Authorities are looking into whether the conservative commentator violated the state's "doctor shopping" law by getting doctors to write him overlapping narcotic prescriptions and failing to tell them about each other. From March to September, Limbaugh picked up 1,733 hydrocodone pills, 90 OxyContin pills, 50 Xanax tablets and 40 pills of Kadian...