Limbaugh arrested in Fla. on drug charges
http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.a...storyId=1518074

The Associated Press
Friday, April 28, 2006 6:25 p.m. ET

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Rush Limbaugh was arrested Friday on prescription drug charges, law enforcement officials said.
Limbaugh turned himself in to authorities on a warrant issued by the state attorney's office, said agency spokeswoman Teri Barbera.
The conservative radio commentator came into the jail at about 4 p.m. with his attorney Roy Black and was released an hour later on $3,000 bail, Barbera said.
The warrant was for fraud to conceal information to obtain prescription, Barbera said.

* * * * * * * *

What is that rank smell? OMG, it's stinky Limbaugh cheese! :!:


And the crooked shall be made straight
in 2008 - can hardly wait!

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/...-1625-limbaugh-
painkillers.html

Deal in Rush Limbaugh's prescription drug case lets him avoid guilty plea

By Brian Skoloff
ASSOCIATED PRESS

4:25 p.m. April 28, 2006

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Rush Limbaugh and prosecutors in the long-running prescription drug case against him reached a deal Friday calling for the only charge against the conservative commentator to be dropped without a guilty plea if he continues treatment.
Limbaugh turned himself in to authorities on a warrant filed Friday charging him with fraud to conceal information to obtain prescriptions, said Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County Jail. He and his attorney Roy Black left about an hour later, after Limbaugh was photographed and fingerprinted and he posted $3,000 bail, Barbera said.

Prosecutors' three-year investigation of Limbaugh began after he publicly acknowledged being addicted to pain medication and entered a rehabilitation program. They accused Limbaugh of “doctor shopping,” or illegally deceiving multiple doctors to receive overlapping prescriptions, after learning that he received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors in six months, at a pharmacy near his Palm Beach mansion.

Limbaugh, who pleaded not guilty Friday, has steadfastly denied doctor shopping. Black said the charge will be dismissed in 18 months if Limbaugh complies with court guidelines.

“Mr. Limbaugh and I have maintained from the start that there was no doctor shopping, and we continue to hold this position,” Black said in an e-mailed statement.

As a primary condition of the dismissal, Limbaugh must continue to seek treatment from the doctor he has seen for the past 2½ years, Black said. Among other provisions, he also has agreed to pay the state $30,000 to defray its investigative costs, Black said.

Prosecutors did not immediately return a call for comment.

They began investigating Limbaugh in 2003 after the National Enquirer reported his housekeeper's allegations that he had abused OxyContin and other painkillers. He soon took a five-week leave from his radio show to enter a rehabilitation program and acknowledged he had become addicted to pain medication. He blamed it on severe back pain.

Before his own problems became public, Limbaugh had decried drug use and abuse and mocked President Clinton for saying he had not inhaled when he tried marijuana. He often made the case that drug crimes deserve punishment.

“Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. ... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up,” Limbaugh said on his short-lived television show on Oct. 5, 1995.

Prosecutors seized Limbaugh's medical records after learning about the painkillers he had received at the Palm Beach pharmacy. The investigation was held up as the prosecutors and Black battled in court over whether the records were properly seized.

Limbaugh reported five years ago that he had lost most of his hearing because of an autoimmune inner-ear disease. He had surgery to have an electronic device placed in his skull to restore his hearing. But research shows that abusing opiate-based painkillers also can cause profound hearing loss.

Why do these criminals keep getting off so easy???? Oh, I forgot they are Bush loving conservatives. :bad:

I was seriously addicted to Percocet and Oxycontin (both opiate-based drugs) after my year-and-a-half struggle to save my knee after an accident (which ended in knee replacement anyway). I had been on such heavy doses of the drugs for so long that there was no way I could go cold turkey (but no one told me that you can't just stop taking these drugs--you have to ease off). So when I went into withdrawal, which was a horrendously intolerable experience, and I realized that I was physically hooked on the drugs, I did what I thought was the responsible and mature thing and fessed up to my knee surgeon. He flipped out on me and refused to give me anymore. Hello? That was exactly the wrong response. I finally came up with a plan whereby I would cut my doseby 25% every week until finally I was only taking 1/16th of the dose I was currently on. I went back to my doctor and told him exaclty how many pills I would need to carry out that plan. I practically had to get down on my knees to get him to give them to me, but he finally relented, and I followed my plan religiously, and I was able to get off completely after about 6 weeks. It wasn't easy, but it was doable. Today, I still need the meds occasionally for pain, but I find I can take it once in a while without kicking in the old addiction. And I'm very careful not to take it too many days in a row because I'm afraid of becoming addicted again. Also, as it says in that article, it does mess up your hearing. My hearing was never great to begin with (result of a childhood illness), but it got noticeably worse when I was on those drugs and has stayed that way. <_<

Limbaugh needs to check himself into rehab and get clean. Then whatever doctors have been facilitating the addiction need to stop giving him the stuff. Unless he's buying it on the street, which is a whole other story . . .

After the story came out on this a year or so ago he went to rehab and got "clean" so to speak. I am glad you were able to get over your addiction EM and hope your knee is well now.

Addiction is a b*tch. Hardest thing to deal with ever. Karen, you should be so proud that you devised such a successful gradual withdrawal plan for yourself. I hope you got rid of that idiot doctor and that you'll keep exploring non-pharmaceutical ways to manage the pain (like acupuncture, guided imagery, etc.) But good for you! :good:

I'm pretty sure Lusch Limbaugh is too arrogant to go to a doctor for help on his addiction, only to feed his addiction. I'm sure he's been getting it on the street. Clearly he's had no spiritual awakening.

Unfortunately, my knee will never be good. Artificial ones just don't work like the real thing. I don't mind relying on drugs occasionally to manage the pain. If it means being able to take a hike in the woods with my family or spend a day in the garden rather than sitting on the couch, it's a small price to pay.

Karen, don't let your addiction get you down...I also had to kick some opioid salt habits myself over the last two years, but it has aggravated my Crohn's Disease over time...watching my diet helps, but having Lomotil helps better...Diphenoxylate isn't as "bad" as oxycodone (I have taken that as well)...but it still eats away at the bone over time...(my teeth are a wreck) :dripple:

EM, I have dumped more "habits" in 42 years than anyone I know...Your doctor should have told you THIS is the last RX Karen, MONTHS before you brought it up...but you did the correct procedure...you can ONLY step down from opiates and you do NOT necessarily need 12 Steps...I have dropped numerous habits including tobacco over the years...but I can smoke a cigarette very occasionally just to PROVE it really is "mind over matter"...you MUST be able to expose yourself to it without NEEDING it or you have failed kicking off the monkey...Take it from somebody who knows! But EM...I am proud of you because YOU had made your OWN schedule to kick the pills! Not everyone thinks of that!

:good:

But here is what Limbaugh has said himself...

So if we are to be ETHICAL here then why shouldn't the Indicted Fat Drug Addict be SENT UP? I mean going on his own words here he was GUILTY of BUYING MULTIPLE RX'S FOR DRUGS!...

The REST of us would get 18 Months behind bars...RU$H will get a "wrist slap"...won't even have to spend time at Camp Cuppy Cake like Martha did while his illegal fat butt sits on the air telling lies about every Democrat who dares go against the Right Wing Noise Machine...and the Wamongering Oil Sucking Government...

HERR GOERING...Ahem...I mean FATTY RU$HBUCKLE like the Pretzel doesn't HAVE to obey the Rule of Law like the rest of us do...

The "Moral" side of me says if you have pain then you should TREAT it! These "drugs" are easily obtained by the rest of the world...just not in this country...The "Ethical" side of me says THROW HIM BEHIND BARS! Let FATTY spend some time with those folks he said NEEDED SENT UP! :mad:

Just to be clear on this: I am no longer addicted. I have a constant supply of LEGAL Percocet on hand that are there when I need them. I have no trouble NOT taking them, and I generally resist taking them unless NOT taking them will mean a day spent sitting on my ever-widening butt when I could be doing something active.

I, too, have kicked other nasty habits in my lifetime, Paraclete, tobacco being one (and thank goodness for that).

Now if I could just find a way to not need food . . . :rolleyes:

Limbarf got off easy, like so many conservative criminals. I have no use for an arrogant, lying, racist hypocrite like Rush Limbarf. :bad:

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/...9460.xml&coll=2

Rush Limbaugh, prosecutors both see deal as victory

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Brian Skoloff
Associated Press

West Palm Beach, Fla. - After three years under suspicion, Rush Limbaugh can finally put behind him the investigation that exposed the conservative commentator's own drug problems, thrusting him into the spotlight for the very things he derided in others.

None of it affected his ratings for a radio talk show that airs weekdays on nearly 600 stations and draws about 20 million listeners a week, Limbaugh spokesman Tony Knight said.

"This investigation didn't have any impact on his audience or on his advertising," Knight said Saturday, a day after defense attorneys announced a deal with prosecutors. A single prescription fraud charge will be dismissed after 18 months if Limbaugh stays drug-free and doesn't violate any laws.

Prosecutors launched their investigation in 2003 after Limbaugh's housekeeper alleged he abused OxyContin and other painkillers. He entered a five- week rehabilitation program and blamed his addiction on severe back pain.

Prosecutors seized Limbaugh's medical records after learning that he received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors in six months.

The investigation was held up as prosecutors and defense attorney Roy Black battled in court over whether Limbaugh's constitutional right to privacy was violated when the records were seized, but the state prevailed.

Is the deal a victory for Limbaugh?

"This is a dismissal of the charge . . . representing, in effect, a win for the defense," said Ken dall Coffey, a former U.S. attorney and prominent Miami defense lawyer.

"Having said that, I wouldn't call this case a major defeat for the prosecution. They fought and won an important legal point in establishing that you can use a search warrant in Florida to secure medical records," Coffey added.

The deal also allows Limbaugh "to save face," said Michael Seigel, a University of Florida law professor and former federal prosecutor.

"Given the high-profile nature of this, it's an indication to me that if Rush Limbaugh thought he could win the case and be vindicated, he would go to trial," Seigel said. "He's not asking for his day in court."

He surrendered Friday on a warrant charging that in 2003, he sought a prescription from a physician without revealing that he had received medications from another practitioner within 30 days. That charge, commonly referred to as doctor shopping, is a felony that could carry a sentence of up to five years in prison.

Limbaugh, 55, was booked, photographed and fingerprinted before being released on $3,000 bail.

He has steadily maintained his innocence.

Black called the charge a formality to bring closure to the case, adding that Limbaugh has been drug-free for 2½ years.

Before his own problems became public, Limbaugh had often argued that drug crimes deserve punishment, once saying on his short-lived television show in 1995 that users "ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."

Sorry EM...My Faux Pas....but you KNOW when you beat it....I can smoke a cigarette with immediately rushing out to buy a pack...and I do so every 6 to 10 months just to prove a point...I have run into many who say they kicked their habits and dropped their Monkey...but they never are tempted again with the addiction...Karen..the FACT you have SOME Percocet at home and haven't taken ALL of them PROVES that you have indeed beat the addiction...Had you said you dumped ALL of them out and have NOTHING would prove to me that you really haven't kicked the "habit"...EM it takes a true "clean" and "sober" individual to be able to have the source right under their nose ALL of the time and NOT take anything!...YOU truly have "drop kicked" that Monkey!!! :lol:

But I have my doubts about Fatty RU$HBUCKLE...Just going to Rehab and "drying out" and swearing to some 12 Step Program is NOT enough! You MUST be able to sit in a ROOM FULL OF IT to say you have WON! And besides RU$H thinks any and ALL of us belong behind bars for being "treasonous" and doubting the Idiot King President while he threatens Iran and speculators raise the price of OIL due to those threats! I say RU$H NEEDS TO SPEND SOME TIME BEHIND THOSE BARS WITH ALL OF THOSE FOLKS HE WANTED SENT UP THE RIVER! IT WOULD BE GOOD FOR HIM! But THEY will just SLAP his "wristies" and get him back on the "radio" so he won't miss a "beat" with his lies, fabrications, and racial slurs! I SAY SEND HIM TO JAIL!!! :mad:

:good:

I think Rush just needs rehab in GITMO. :rolleyes:

cnn.com

Prosecutors: No charges for Limbaugh
Talk radio host had Viagra in luggage with doctor's name on it

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) -- Rush Limbaugh will not face charges in Palm Beach County for the bottle of Viagra found in his luggage that appeared to have been prescribed to someone else, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Charges could have nullified the conservative radio host's plea agreement in a "doctor shopping" case.

Limbaugh, 55, was detained for more than three hours at Palm Beach International Airport on June 26 after he returned on his private plane from a vacation in the Dominican Republic. (Full story)

The state attorney's office said Dr. Steve Strumwasser's name was on the Viagra bottle, not Limbaugh's.

Strumwasser, who is Limbaugh's psychiatrist, told authorities he "agreed to have his name on the label in an effort to avoid potentially embarrassing publicity for the suspect," according to a filing by the prosecutor's office.

"Thus, the medication contained in the subject pill bottle was legitimately prescribed to the suspect by his physician," the filing said.

It is generally not illegal under Florida law for a physician to prescribe medication in a third party's name if all parties are aware and the doctor documents it correctly, said Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for the state attorney in Palm Beach County.

However, since the doctor wrote the prescription in Miami-Dade County, the case has been forwarded to prosecutors there for review. The Palm Beach County state attorney's office also said it forwarded the matter to the state Department of Professional Regulation and the Department of Health to determine if the doctor breached ethics.

Charges in the Viagra case could have nullified a deal Limbaugh reached with prosecutors last month in which a single "doctor shopping" charge was deferred for 18 months, so long as Limbaugh does not get arrested for any reason.

Authorities had accused Limbaugh of illegally deceiving multiple doctors to get overlapping painkiller prescriptions. Limbaugh denied the charges but admitted he was addicted to painkillers.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.