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We are facing a tsunami of painkiller addiction that will flood our criminal justice, health care, behavioral health, and social services resources. Illicit online pharmacies have made prescriptions cheap and easy to acquire, fueling a massive wave of addi...ction that we actually have not seen yet. SAMHSA estimates that over 5% of the nations population, 12 years and older, are using painkillers, nowhere more prevalent than the heartland with Oklahoma leading the nation at 6.7%. Opioid addiction used to be thought of as primarily heroin addiction, but that is changing rapidly. The masses currently addicted to prescription painkillers have conveniently...

A Florida man was arrested for popping zits on his back at a McDonald's restaurant, according to a report. Owen Lemire Kato of Port Charlotte stood in front of one of the entrances and repulsed customers by squeezing the pimples for more than 10 minutes, the police report cited by news-press.com said. Kato, 23, gave a fake name to an off-duty officer who tried to intervene, then gave his real name before bolting out of the restaurant, news-press.com reported. Another officer in the area heard the call go out, spotted Kato and tackled him after a brief chase on foot,...

"Soldiers haunted by scenes of war and victims scarred by violence may wish they could wipe the memories from their minds. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University say that may someday be possible. A commercial drug remains far off — and its use would be subject to many ethical and practical questions. But scientists have laid a foundation with their discovery that proteins can be removed from the brain's fear center to erase memories forever."

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Anyway, these commentaries out there, folks, this is classic ruling class, people wanting to be in the big clique. We had a horrible decision in terms of the rule of law. Politically, I think the decision yesterday in Arizona by that Clinton appointee is just another nail in the coffin politically for the Democrats come November. So politically, yeah, you can see, but legally, as far as the rule of law is concerned, this is a disaster. It is an outrage. And we got people saying, "Well, there's some victories to celebrate in here. There are some...

Limbaugh To Wed As Hollywood Flirts With His Life Story Getty – In this file photo, Kathryn Rogers [Pic in URL] and Rush Limbaugh arrive at the Will the fourth time be the charm for Rush Limbaugh? Limbaugh, 59, is set to marry 33-year-old girlfriend Kathryn Rogers on Saturday at the talk radio star's palatial Florida beachfront property. Although Limbaugh never seems at a loss for words, he's been uncharacteristically quiet about the pending nuptials. Fill-in hosts have taken over the show, with his website simply noting that "El Rushbo will be out until Tuesday, June 15th." However, Limbaugh emailed...

Mother of Bristol Palin’s ex-beau guilty in drug case PALMER, Alaska — The mother of the man former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol had planned on marrying has reached a plea deal in her drug case. Sherry Johnston pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of possession with intent to deliver the painkiller OxyContin. Five other felony counts were dropped. “That’s pretty,” Johnston said as a court officer placed pink handcuffs, a gift from an Arizona sheriff, around her wrists. She hugged her lawyer, Rex Butler, before being escorted out of the courtroom and taken to a correctional facility where...

Palmer, Alaska (AP) -- The mother of the man former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol had planned on marrying has reached a plea deal in her drug case. Sherry Johnston pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of possession with intent to deliver the painkiller OxyContin. Five other felony counts were dropped. Johnston was placed in pink handcuffs and taken to a correctional facility where she'll be held until her Nov. 20 sentencing.

"Manage the Public Knowledge" February 13, 2009 OBAMA: Those of us who manage the public dollars will be held to account to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and our government. RUSH: President Barack Obama, in his inaugural address on January 20th. Greetings, my friends, it's Last Chance Friday. JOHNNY DONOVAN: Live from the Southern Command in sunny south Florida via New York City, it's Open Line Friday! RUSH: Those of us who manage the public's knowledge will be...

RUSH: I got an e-mail. This is from Susan in Virginia Beach. "Dear Rush: You are my professor. I am indebted to you for the knowledge that you have given me. You've always told us that you would tell us when it was time to panic. I'm starting to wonder how we are going to get our country back from these revolutionaries. Is it time to panic?" No. 'Cause panic doesn't accomplish anything. But when we come back from the break, I'm going to tell you how to get the country back. I'm going to tell you how it will...

Rush Limbaugh Talk-radio giant Rush Limbaugh is blasting the so-called economic stimulus plan of President Obama and the Democrat-led Congress, calling it an assault on capitalism intentionally designed to harm the private sector and lead to bigger government. "This is a full-fledged attack on capitalism, and the leftists Democrats have been seeking this for the longest time," Limbaugh said on his program this afternoon. "That's why they can't stop themselves. It is Christmas morning every day for these people. There's nobody that can stop them." A question e-mailed to the host asked if the Democrats really understood that they're "destroying...

Sherry Johnston, mother of Bristol Palin's fiancé, faces a Jan. 6 court date for an OxyContin-related arrest at her home by Alaska state troopers. Sherry Johnston, mother of Bristol Palin's fiancé, faces a Jan. 6 court date for an OxyContin-related arrest at her home by Alaska state troopers. Bristol Palin, 18, is due to give birth today, according to a recent interview with the governor's father, Chuck Heath. A wedding date has not been announced. Johnston was arrested Thursday by troopers serving a search warrant in an undercover drug investigation. A standard news release issued by troopers said Johnston was...

-- Wasilla resident Sherry L. Johnston, mother of Bristol Palin's boyfriend, faces a Jan. 6 court date for an oxycontin-related arrest at her home by Alaska State Troopers. Little additional information was available Friday on the case as authorities remained unusually tight-lipped about details. But Palmer court records listed her scheduled court date and a troopers spokeswoman said in a release late Friday afternoon that the charges "are in relation to the drug oxycontin." Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, the Wasilla 18-year-old suddenly placed in an international spotlight in September when Gov. Sarah Palin -- who was then...

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Fifty-six government employees -- including a police officer, a felony court clerk, two corrections officers and 27 school bus drivers and attendants -- were arrested in a scam that used health insurance information to fraudulently obtain prescriptions for the painkiller OxyContin, authorities said Wednesday. Sixty-two people were arrested in total and all face charges including racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering and grand theft, according to the Miami-Dade state attorney's office. Authorities estimate 130 medically unnecessary prescriptions for OxyContin -- more than 12,000 tablets -- were presented to pharmacies. The drugs have an estimated street value of...

Exponential growth in addiction met with a dramatic reduction in supply, creates a situation where a large number of people get sick and desperate. Prices spike as addicts clamor to find the drugs they need so badly. Alternative, and often illegal, methods for raising funds are employed. Progressively risky behavior and criminal associations occur. People lose jobs, lose housing, and lose families, dismantling a network of support systems that are challenging, if not impossible, to rebuild. The magnitude of people potentially involved will send shockwaves through the criminal justice, social services, health care, and criminal justice service delivery systems as...

SAMHSA announced in March 2008 that Oklahoma topped the nation in prescription painkiller addiction. Effective law enforcement strategies by the DEA and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs have abruptly shut down many of the online pharmacies, loose physician prescription practices, and multiple doctor sourcing. The result is a dramatic reduction in supply. The huge growth in painkiller addiction fueled by cheap and easy supply is being faced with a shutdown in supply. The result will be a sudden overwhelming number of sick and desperate people. Before we become too judgmental of such people, let us not forget...

The hatred from supposedly compassionate and open-minded Hollywoodans is something to behold, isn't it? After all, just imagine despising a radio talk show host so much that you would suggest, on national television, that he should die of a drug overdose. Alas, such was the case Friday evening when HBO's Bill Maher actually asked guest P.J. O'Rourke, who was talking about Rush Limbaugh's use of the prescription drug OxyContin (video available here courtesy our friend Ms Underestimated): Why couldn't have he croaked from it instead of Heath Ledger? Honestly, can you imagine? MSNBC's David Shuster was suspended on Friday for...

Federal prosecutors had what looked like a solid case against Joan Jaszczult, a Bloomfield doctor accused of writing Oxycontin and Percocet prescriptions for a ring that resold the drugs on the streets for huge profits. They had secret recordings by informants and undercover agents, a line of alleged co-conspirators waiting to testify against her, and even an eye-popping motive: she needed the cash, they said, to help pay $100,000 in plastic surgery bills. But four days after the trial opened, prosecutors suffered a devastating setback. The presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler, ruled the government had improperly introduced a...

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) - People in the United States are living in a world of pain and they are popping pills at an alarming rate to cope with it. The amount of five major painkillers sold at retail establishments rose 90 percent between 1997 and 2005, according to an Associated Press analysis of statistics from the Drug Enforcement Administration. More than 200,000 pounds of codeine, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and meperidine were purchased at retail stores during the most recent year represented in the data. That total is enough to give more than 300 milligrams of painkillers to every person...

CNNÂ’s "from the Left" commentator Paul Begala apparently doesnÂ’t want people to forget that Rush Limbaugh dealt with OxyContin addiction. During a panel discussion of Rudy Giuliani and the possible factor of his family life in his presidential bid, Begala attacked the GOP, accusing that the party "has made a practice of going after peopleÂ’s families," and then singled out Limbaugh for doing this (though Limbaugh has never officially worked for the Republicans). "Not just attacking Bill Clinton, we remember Rush Limbaugh attacking Chelsea Clinton. Maybe it was just the OxyContin talking." Nine months ago, Begala slammed Limbaugh as the...

On Dec. 7, 2001, nearly three months after the terrorist attack that had made him a national hero and a little over three weeks before he would leave office, New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani took the first official step toward making himself rich. The letter he dispatched to the city Conflicts of Interest Board that day asked permission to begin forming a consulting firm with three members of his outgoing administration. The company, Giuliani said, would provide “management consulting service to governments and business” and would seek out partners for a “wide-range of possible business, management and financial services”...