I’m reading the fallout over Rush Limbaugh’s revelation that he’s entering treatment for an OxyContin addiction. This is the same guy who once said that the drug problem in America is due to too many white people abusing drugs and getting away with it, and that they should be locked up. Hmmm.

Anyway, now the conservative commentators have weighed in with some of their opinions. One said that there’s a moral difference between someone getting addicted by searching for illegal drugs to get high versus someone getting addicted by taking prescribed drugs for pain. Excuse me? That’s like saying the wino who’s an alcoholic is a sinner, but the social martini drinking alcoholic is not. Puh-leaze! Addiction is addiction, how you got there and what you’re addicted to is irrelevant.

OK, so maybe Rush had a legitimate need for OxyContin following his failed back surgeries. But when you’re hounding your maid to get you up to 30 OxyContin per day, you’re doing it to get high. I’ve taken OxyContin, and thirty in a day would be a very nice buzz. I guess their point is that no doctor would ever give you a legitimate reason to snort coke or shoot heroin. Point taken, but again, when he started taking more than the doctor prescribed and getting it through his maid, he falls into the same moral category as anyone else who is illegally purchasing a drug to get high. Whether it was a doctor or a dealer who got you your first dose, you were the one who kept coming back for more.

Furthermore, everyone is applauding Rush for his difficult decision to go into rehab. Hey, it’s not that difficult a decision when your career is on the line and the Enquirer is plastering your face on the front page and you just resigned for making stupid comments on ESPN. It would have been difficult if, at any time previous, he had realized, “hey, I’m downing 30 doses of Hillbilly Heroin a day. Maybe I’m one of those white people abusing drugs and getting away with it. Maybe I should take a leave of absence and go into rehab.” That would have been tough.

I wonder how Rush’s dittoheads feel about taking advice from a drug addict all these years?

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