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| Rush Limbaugh Completes Rehab, Returns To Air |
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Posted by CN Staff on November 12, 2003 at 11:57:21 PT By Jill Barton, Associated Press Source: Associated Press 
West Palm Beach -- Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh will return to his radio talk show Monday after he completed a five-week treatment program for his addiction to painkillers, his brother said Wednesday.David Limbaugh made the announcement to Internet personality Matt Drudge, who was sitting in Wednesday for the commentator. Limbaugh left the air Oct. 10 after acknowledging that he had been abusing prescription painkillers. Limbaugh plans to resume his regular schedule, hosting his three-hour show during weekdays to his audience of 20 million people, his brother said. ``He's obviously chomping at the bit to get back to doing what he does best,'' David Limbaugh said. Rush Limbaugh told his audience last month that he was checking himself into a treatment center to ``once and for all break the hold this highly addictive medication has on me.'' OxyContin is a narcotic painkiller that is widely prescribed for victims of moderate to severe chronic pain resulting from such problems as arthritis, back trouble and cancer. Limbaugh said he started taking painkillers ``some years ago'' after a doctor prescribed them following spinal surgery. His back pain stemming from the surgery persisted, so Limbaugh said he started taking pills and became hooked. He said he'd twice before undergone drug rehabilitation. His brother said the host successfully completed the first phase of his current treatment, and did not say what the next step was. ``But he's very realistic about the long road ahead of him, and he's committed to staying the course,'' David Limbaugh said. Limbaugh's admission to drug addiction came several days after the National Enquirer ran a story about Wilma Cline, who said she became Limbaugh's drug connection while working as his maid. She said Limbaugh had abused OxyContin and other painkillers. A law enforcement source in Palm Beach County, where Limbaugh owns a $24 million oceanfront mansion, have confirmed on condition of anonymity that Limbaugh was being investigated by the state attorney's office. On Wednesday, the source said the investigation is ongoing. Limbaugh said last month he had been asked to ``to limit my public comments until this investigation is complete.'' His attorney, Roy Black, said on Wednesday that he could not comment on the investigation. Limbaugh's drug admission came less than two weeks after he quit a new moonlighting job as a pro football commentator with ESPN. He'd received criticism for saying on the sports network's ``Sunday NFL Countdown'' that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed. Limbaugh reported two years ago that he had lost most of his hearing because of an autoimmune inner-ear disease, but some medical experts have said abusing opiate-based painkillers like OxyContin can lead to profound hearing loss caused by damage to the inner ear. Limbaugh had surgery to have an electronic device placed in his skull to restore his hearing. In the past, Limbaugh has decried drug use and abuse on his bluntly conservative show, mocking President Bill Clinton for saying he had not inhaled when he tried marijuana and often making 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. During the same show, he commented that the statistics that show blacks go to prison more often than whites for the same drug offenses only illustrate that ``too many whites are getting away with drug use.'' Complete Title: Rush Limbaugh Completes Rehab, Returns To Air on Monday On the Net: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/ Newshawk: Had Enough Related Articles: When Limbaugh Returns, Can We Expect Change? Virtue Is Its Own Drawback Crash of Conservative Icons Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #9 posted by Jose Melendez on November 15, 2003 at 08:54:20 PT |
| http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/11/15/nfrost15.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/11/15/ixhome.html Frost's wife in hospital after pill 'overdose' By Nicola Woolcock and John Crowley (Filed: 15/11/2003) Sir David Frost's wife was recovering in an intensive care unit last night after taking a suspected drugs overdose. Lady Carina Frost, 50, was thought to have confused the dosage of tablets prescribed to her after a stomach operation she underwent on Monday while Sir David was in America. The Sun reported that he discovered her unconscious on the floor of their home in Chelsea when he returned on Thursday from interviewing President George W Bush. The television interviewer called emergency services who took Lady Carina to the nearby Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where her stomach was said to have been pumped. She was transferred last night to Homerton Hospital in east London. Her condition when found was described as "very serious" but was said last night to be stable. (snipped) http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/11/14/coolsc.frogs.fish/index.html AIRS: Saturdays 3 p.m. ET / Sundays 5 p.m. ET Frogs, fish and pharmaceuticals a troubling brew Prozac, other drugs detected in streams and their inhabitants By Marsha Walton CNN Two tapdpoles after 57 days of development in the lab. The one on the right, which has yet to sprout limbs, was exposed to fluoxetine, also known as Prozac. (CNN) -- A number of aquatic and amphibian species are being exposed to small amounts of everything from Prozac to perfume to birth control pills that make their way into U.S. rivers and streams. And scientists now have evidence that this "cocktail" of pharmaceuticals, in high enough quantities, can lead to problems that may be serious enough to prevent wildlife from reproducing. It's not yet clear how the buildup over time could affect the species. In 2002, 80 percent of streams sampled by the U.S. Geological Survey showed evidence of drugs, hormones, steroids and personal care products such as soaps and perfumes. The U.S.G.S. tested 139 rivers in 30 states. To give an idea how many drug remnants make their way into ponds, creeks and streams, after being passed through humans, sent into sewer systems and released from wastwater treatment plants: More than 61 million prescriptions for anti-depressants were prescribed by U.S. doctors in 2001, according to the National Center for Health Statistics at the CDC. Because prescriptions like anti-depressants are for chronic conditions, patients often take them for months and years at a time, making them more likely to build up in wastewater Researchers are working on several fronts to determine how big the problem is and just what short- and long-term ecological effects there might be on wildlife. Bryan Brooks, a toxicologist at Baylor University in Texas, discovered evidence of Prozac, an anti-depressant, in the brains, livers, and muscles of bluegill, caught downstream from the Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Plant in Denton, Texas, near Dallas. Unintended consequences Anti-depressants have the same effect on fish that they do on people: they tend to relax them. That's not necessarily a good thing for the fish, though. Wastewater treatment plants like the R.M. Clayton plant in Atlanta are not equipped to remove pharmaceuticals from the water. "We need to ask the question, 'what does accumulation in fish tissue actually mean to the organism's ability to live, grow, or reproduce?'" said Bryan Brooks, a Baylor University toxicologist. While he and his colleagues discovered those medications in fish in the wild, scientists are now studying aquatic species in the lab, to see just how specific amounts of pills and potions affect them. Marsha Black, an aquatic toxicologist at the University of Georgia in Athens, found that low levels of common anti-depressants, including Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and Celexa, cause development problems in fish, and metamorphosis delays in frogs. "In mosquitofish, markers of sexual maturity were delayed in both males and females," said Black. Metamorphosis in frogs was also delayed significantly, she said. In the mosquitofish, sexual development in males was delayed by two to four weeks. (snipped) [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #8 posted by afterburner on November 12, 2003 at 16:57:01 PT:
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| that cannabis is more harmful than oxycontin, heroin, tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, viagra, or aspirin! [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #7 posted by Nicholas Thimmesch on November 12, 2003 at 16:18:23 PT:
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| ....the only so-called "conservative" (any conservative who supports the war-on-some-drugs philosophy is actually a neo-con)broadcaster with problems: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1020395/posts Eyewitness News learned that Jon Matthews resigned from KSEV effective Wednesday. This, on the heels of an investigation of allegations of indecency with a child. By Jeff Ehling ABC13 Eyewitness News (11/12/03 - SUGAR LAND) — There could be legal trouble for radio talk show host Jon Matthews. He's under investigation for indecency with a child and we've learned that he's due at the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Department at any moment to surrender to authorities. We're told by sources that he was indicted by a Ft. Bend County grand jury on charges of indecency with a child. Channel 13 has also learned that the conservative talk show host has resigned from his position at KSEV radio as of Wednesday morning. We're told that resignation was accepted by the station's management. Matthews has been off the air for a couple of weeks while the investigation has been moving forward. A press conference is planned by the Ft. Bend County district attorney to give us the details on the Matthews investigation. Stay with ABC13 Eyewitness News for the very latest on this still developing story [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #6 posted by Sam Adams on November 12, 2003 at 14:43:20 PT |
| I love the terminology here... "Spinal Surgery" instead of "back pain". Wilma Cline became Rush's "drug connection" not "dealer" or "trafficker". Just keep this in mind the next time the AP does a story on medical marijuana. Then people will be ridiculed for using cannabis for "back pain". The people who sell drugs to black people are "dope peddlers". What happened to Wilma, anyway? Has she been charged? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by goneposthole on November 12, 2003 at 14:11:19 PT |
| El Rushbo is back. 24 million dollar mansion is still his. Had it been anyone else, it would be gone, and L. Paul Bremer would be sitting in those digs. No hypocrisy here. Nope, none whatsoever. Whaddaya think? If Joe or Jane down the street had been doing what Rush was doing, what might have been done to them? Lose their homes, their money, their jobs, have their lives ruined? Fined a hundred grand? Spend a year or so in the prison factory sewing Prison Blues, maybe? How convienent for Rush to be back. A thirty day sabbatical and now we see a new, improved risen from the ashes Rush rough and ready to gore the liberal ox. All of his dyed in the wool, rockribbed 'Republican' diehard fans will be so happy to hear his voice. By far and away, one of the sappiest moments in brosdcast history. So many hearts will melt. time to wretch on all of this 'good news'. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by FoM on November 12, 2003 at 13:42:44 PT |
| I never thought that he didn't go to a re-hab but I can't believe he is drug free. After stopping drugs like a powerful narcotic a person can't think right for months so how could he be ready to go back to work and try to make points with his listening audience? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by Robbie on November 12, 2003 at 13:37:27 PT |
| anybody believe Rush Limbaugh was in rehab? I think he went to a resort for a month because it was in the best interests of his radio program to appear to be conciliatory about his drug use. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by 420toker on November 12, 2003 at 13:34:26 PT |
| If I received painkillers from a doctor (probably vicodin) at any point in my life and I start to seek similar and stronger medications (oxycontin) out on the black market, does that give me license to implicate that a doctor hooked me on these drugs and all my actions were driven by medical necessity? Take responsibility Rush!!! You take them because you like them. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on November 12, 2003 at 13:28:34 PT:
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| Only as far as the availability of illicit drugs are concerned: Can't afford smokes, but heroin is cheaper http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/11-03/11-10-03/a01lo716.htm Cigarettes going for 5 bucks...and 'horse' for 4 dollars...yepper, we're a-winnin' dis heah DrugWar fur shure, aw-huh... [ Post Comment ] |
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