cannabisnews.com: Meet Thine Enemy Meet Thine Enemy Posted by CN Staff on October 22, 2003 at 13:19:42 PT By Michelangelo Signorile Source: New York Press It’s true that Rush Limbaugh won’t be going through cold, nasty, state-funded drug treatment like his poorer fellow addicts–that is, in the states that still have treatment slots open, as Republicans, spurred by people like Limbaugh and his armies, have consistently put the kibosh on government-funded drug programs. And yes, as a loaded, white alleged buyer of illegal drugs he probably won’t go to jail the way a street addict would, though the maid he allegedly got to buy illegal pain pills for him may be put in the can. But after researching the place that Limbaugh reportedly checked into for drug treatment, I’m convinced that if the treatment is successful, he could be transformed into a being that is barely recognizable. In this case, that can only be a good thing. After all, if Limbaugh has been on synthetic heroin for years, foaming at the mouth and railing against liberals, a detoxed Limbaugh might be defanged as well. (Makes you wonder what Ann Coulter is on, eh?) That’s not to mention that the treatment center that sources told the New York Post he’s entered is, for him, the belly of the beast.Previously, Limbaugh put himself into overnight detox–twice, we’re told–at the sterile, business-like, highly secretive Addiction Recovery Institute in Manhattan. The rehab facility he’s rumored to have checked into now for 30 days, Sierra Tucson–which will neither confirm nor deny that Limbaugh has checked in–is just outside of Tucson in the Sonora Desert, a setting with a "quiet beauty, inherent strength, and enduring ability to inspire," as described on the facility’s website. For a guy who has railed against "anti-people New Age mystics," the "treatment modalities" at Sierra Tucson are certainly enough to make his hair stand on end. It’s also likely that Limbaugh is being treated alongside the very Hollywood types he has railed against for years, people who check in to discreet, upscale rehab centers in the desert but tell themselves–and their friends–that they’re doing a spa vacation."Sierra Tucson utilizes many different types of therapeutic modalities to access underlying issues," the website of the roughly $1000-a-day treatment center explains. "Each modality is designed to unearth vital information from different angles and pathways into one’s self." (That is all supposed to happen before you head on to the adjoining Miraval Spa, a posh resort and sister company to Sierra Tucson, where you rest up at after you’ve done your 30 days in the treatment center.)From "psychodynamic role-playing and yoga" to "adventure therapy," "Climbing Wall," "the desert experience" and "equine-assisted therapy" (yes, bonding with horses), Limbaugh may just think he died and went to "feminazi" hell. The website depicts photos of people with a decidedly Berkeley look sitting around on the floor in what seem like consciousness-raising sessions. Picture Rush holding his fellow travelers’ hands and singing Kumbayah. Surely he’ll be reciting a line from the very president he lambasted for years: "I feel your pain." How many on the right would have thought that Bill Clinton would be getting the last chuckle, out there aiding his feminazi wife’s successful political career while their man Rush is wandering the desert reciting New Age mantras?"Self-discovery often crystallizes during an experience that requires physical and mental exertion in the face of a potentially fearful activity," the description for the Climbing Wall says. "With its height and verticality, the Climbing Wall serves as an important therapeutic metaphor."Yes, I’m sure some of you would pay to watch Limbaugh scale that wall. But me, I’d like to observe him during "creative expression therapy," which includes "art therapy, journaling, meditation" and "clap outs, historygrams, reading assignments" as well as…"sculpting." These techniques, the website explains, "deepen the journey to self-discovery."But it’s the horse-bonding that really may change Rush’s life."Equine-Assisted Therapy is an interactive therapy modality in which participants work one-on-one with horses in a metaphoric experience." Sounds kinky, but apparently there is an adult present. "This program utilizes a trained equine therapist to help interpret behaviors, ask questions, and facilitate the experience."Phew. So, how does this therapy work? "The process of working with the horse helps patients access their wounds, identify dysfunctional behaviors in relationships, recognize their effectiveness or ineffectiveness in setting appropriate boundaries, and identify deep-seated issues that may not have been brought to the surface with other therapeutic interventions. For example, horses have an uncanny ability to sense deep human emotions and can mirror a participant’s mood or behavior."Can you imagine the horse that mirrors Limbaugh’s mood or behavior? Get the hell out of the way!"Through the interaction between the horse and the patient, a trained therapist will ask questions based upon what is being revealed through the ‘relationship,’" the description notes. "Through a series of interactions, patients begin to understand destructive patterns of their behavior."All this while, activists were calling for advertiser boycotts of his radio program in order to end the destructive patterns, and all they had to do was get Limbaugh some equine-bonding at the local racetrack. (Just don’t bring high-roller Bill Bennett along.)Then there is the Cognitive/Behavioral Therapy (CBT): "The major philosophical assumption of CBT," Sierra Tucson’s website explains, "is that by changing individuals’ thinking, their belief system, and, in turn, their behavior is changed." Changing Rush Limbaugh’s belief system? Suddenly brainwashing seems refreshing.Another of the therapies, "experiential therapy," the website notes, "was developed during the early 1970s," a decade that cannot be among Limbaugh’s favorites. "This type of therapy helps individuals experience the issues they are dealing with through acting them out, role-playing, guided imagery, projecting, and the use of props. By physically, emotionally, and mentally expressing one’s self, individuals are assisted in unlocking hidden issues and in working through them."Surely Limbaugh has lots of hidden issues to work through–oh, to be a fly on the wall during that therapy. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not meaning to belittle drug treatment, nor, certainly, drug addiction. Quite to the contrary. Loopy as some of these therapies seem, I’m all for whatever works. And I’m all for Limbaugh’s potential transformation from a fire-breathing dragon into a jellyfish or a pussycat–or even an actual human being, as unlikely as any of that is (particularly since some experts say 30 days isn’t enough time to kick OxyContin).I’m also glad that the New Age mystics, the feminazis, the well-to-do Hollywood types, the liberals whom he has claimed "coddle" people on drugs and lots of others whom Limbaugh has attacked may now be helping him out in Arizona. Let’s see if he returns the favor. Note: Rush, to be cured at the hands of hippies.Michelangelo Signorile hosts a daily radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio, stream 149. He can be reached at: http://www.signorile.com/Source: New York Press (NY)Author: Michelangelo SignorilePublished: Oct. 22, 2003 - Vol. 16, Issue 43 Copyright: 2003 New York PressContact: editorial nypress.comWebsite: http://www.nypress.com/Related Articles:Rush and Chong - Sierra Timeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17601.shtml Crash of Conservative Icons http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17552.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #9 posted by FoM on October 24, 2003 at 09:26:43 PT CongressmanSuet I don't know how horses can help someone who is addicted to a drug but I never heard of that use for horses. I've seen handicapped children and adults benefit from therapy with horses but horses can be a handful and I'm just not sure how horses would work either. People coming off hard narcotics have a short fuse and that doesn't settle well when dealing with horses I believe. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by CongressmanSuet on October 24, 2003 at 09:20:50 PT: Equine assisted therapy... Knowing alittle bit about horses, I personally dont believe that EAT in the Addiction-recovery process is really going to be very helpful. Please correct me if Im wrong, but I have been involved with EAT[they used my horses a few times, I was more than happy to help out] and the real strength in programs like this lies in the help they can be to developmentally/emotionally disabled people, it helps them "connect", feel more like they are involved, etc. Trying to use them as an aid to addiction recovery, while sounding good, doesnt really help in goal attainment. Horses can be used as surrogate humans[which explains at least some of thier popularity helping with the "outsider" mentality that afflicts many in the horse business], but there are limitations as to how helpful they really are. The main goal in EAT with developmentally disabled people is the attainment of a certain kind of connection with the animal, the formation of a symbiosis. I just dont see how much help horses would be in the recovery process, but Im always willing to learn. Anyone? [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on October 23, 2003 at 11:04:59 PT News Article from Snipped Source Throwing Money at This War and Losing ItOctober 22, 2003 Think two or three hundred years into the future. May Americans then view our 21st century drug laws in the same way this generation looks back on horrors of the Salem witch trials or the Spanish Inquisition?But why wait? Shouldn't it already be clear that America's war on drugs is a cruel, costly failure?Most immediately on our minds is the unenviable corner into which Rush Limbaugh painted himself. A persuasive molder of public opinion, this man has long supported punitive drug laws. His characterstic vitriol left no option toward violators but to "lock 'em up."Limbaugh's credibility on drugs is clouded by discovery that the host to 20 million radio listeners is himself fighting an addiction. He has been popping as many as 100 pain pills a day, obtained at black market prices in admitted violation of the law.So do we lock up Rush Limbaugh? Beyond the intense satisfaction this might afford certain of his detractors, it would achieve nothing. The man poses no threat. His only predictable violence is to public discourse. He's undergoing a rehabilitation program that few dittoheads could afford. No serious advocate of reform can wish for Limbaugh's prosecution or punishment.On the other hand, it would seem outrageous if Limbaugh were to go scot-free while the law cracks down on his ex-housekeeper and principal provider. Wilma Cline's illegal purchases enabled a wealthy addict to feed the habit. Only her cooperation with prosecutors may enable this woman to remain free – such is the cat and mouse game passing for public policy.Any semblance of evenhandedness in the government's drug war went by the boards earlier this year in the West Texas town of Tulia. The Drug Enforcement Administration has not explained the targeting of a rural Panhandle outpost halfway between Lubbock and Amarillo. Nor has anyone at DEA sought to defend an inept, almost clownish undercover officer, one Tom Coleman, who faked evidence against dozens of Tulia's mainly black residents. His false charges led to prison sentences of two to six, and in one instance 90 years.A judge last May found almost all the Tulia cases without merit. He commuted the sentences of 35 prisoners – but not before their corrupt accuser had accepted an award as "Texas Lawman of the Year."Our tax dollars at work, we may assume.On such ragtag doings rests the most sizable segment of U.S. law enforcement. At least in part, it explains why the year 2003 will have witnessed the sharpest increase ever in our federal prison population – which officials expect will rise by nearly one-third over the next three years.Their figures, I fear, are not loosely drawn. Ponder the following:The Bureau of Prisons estimates it will be holding 198,000 inmates by the year 2006 – a 3l.8 percent rise from the most recently tabulated prison population, 150,152.An average 26,000 Americans each year are being sentenced to federal confinement on drug charges alone. Druggies now account for 58 percent of the total number behind bars.The Bush administration has asked Congress to appropriate $4.66 billion for the Bureau of Prisons in the next fiscal year. That's up by 8.3 percent from current spending and about what it would cost to house all offenders in 3-star hotels.Our war on drugs is proving as worrisome as the war in Iraq. The DEA has gone through four chief administrators in a little more than a year. Its newest leader, the careerist Karen Tandy, issued an unusual call for loyalty in addressing the National Narcotics Officer Coalition last Aug. 25.Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/wed/opinion/news_mz1e22deerli.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by goneposthole on October 23, 2003 at 04:11:35 PT Eqine-assisted therapy Good grief, Rush is getting therapy from Mr. Ed."For example, horses have an uncanny ability to sense deep human emotions and can mirror a participant’s mood or behavior."Look out for that double-hoofed horsekick, Rush. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by CongressmanSuet on October 22, 2003 at 21:18:43 PT: Treatment.... It is sooo easy to get thru treatment while never revealing yourself its quite sad. Rush is doing time, he is not gaining enlightenment. His two failed rapid detox's tell alot. The man is so full of himself[among other things] I seriously doubt he is doing this for real. I hope Im wrong, we will just have to wait until he is back on the air to find out.... [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on October 22, 2003 at 19:47:35 PT Nailed this one The reporter adroitly mentions that Rush gets no punishment while the Latino maid who sold him the drugs goes to jail. That is the drug war in a nutshell.Remember when the Dell Dude got busted? He got off with a fine. The Hispanic man who sold him the bag? Jail sentence. The dealer had no more weed on him. He was merely on the wrong side of the transaction, or maybe he was just the wrong color. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by mayan on October 22, 2003 at 17:54:32 PT oops! Here's the correct link...Yes to debate on cannabis with Nandor: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0310/S00505.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by mayan on October 22, 2003 at 17:08:27 PT NZ Cannabis Debate... I just stumbled across these articles regarding cannabis debates in New Zealand... Yes to debate on cannabis with Nandor: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0310Nandor thanks Anderton, reissues challenge: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0310/S00497.htmThe way out is the way in...9/11 - Status of the Investigations: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/archive/scoop/stories/01/16/200310141135.091828ba.html9/11 prior Knowledge/Government Involvement Archive: http://www.propagandamatrix.com/archiveprior_knowledge9/11 CitizensWatch: http://www.911citizenswatch.org/October 25th - Mass March on Washington DC - Joint Action in San Francisco: http://www.internationalanswer.org/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by CorvallisEric on October 22, 2003 at 15:43:30 PT For those who can't get enough Week-old article: some details I haven't seen elsewhere and a remarkably angry and porcine-looking photo of Rush: http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2003/10/401958.php [ Post Comment ] Post Comment