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Rush Called to Higher Purpose.
John LeBoutillier Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2003 Rush Limbaugh's admirable admission of prescription drug addiction may do more good than anyone now knows. Why? Because Rush Limbaugh can - if he chooses - help lead a crusade against the epidemic abuse of legal prescription drugs in this country. True, Rush probably would not have fessed up had not the National Enquirer outed him as a drug abuser. But once he was cornered, he chose the honorable path: He admitted to his problem; many addicts remain in total denial.
Now the real journey begins.
Rush is going into rehab. Done correctly, a properly recovering addict is never 'cured.' He/she is always recovering. He/she may leave the rehabilitation center, but that addict needs to keep treating the addiction. Narcotics Anonymous meetings and constant monitoring under the care of a 'sponsor' are all part of the recovery plan.
As Rush goes through this step-by-step agony, he can do more to help this country than anything he has done in his distinguished broadcast career: He can educate his huge listening audience about the biggest disease sweeping this nation: prescription drug addiction.
I have seen this disaster up close and personal: An older brother of mine has been paralyzed for 15 years from the chest down because he was so zonked out on Valium that he miscalculated one morning while jogging and was hit by a car going 55 miles per hour. The injuries were so widespread that it would take a column just to describe them. Suffice to say a broken neck left him a quadriplegic for life.
My brother's problems began 14 years earlier when he was given Valium for the after-effects of a painful kidney stone. Soon my brother was hooked - and not much later was scamming local drug stores to 'double fill' his prescriptions.
Over the next decade or so he increased his daily intake to over 100 mgs. per day of Valium. This is a huge dose - but not to a longtime user.
Ask any addict who has been hooked on booze, cocaine or heroin, and also on Valium, and they'll all tell you the same thing: Valium is by far the hardest addiction to shake. And Valium is the only one that is legal and prescribed by doctors!
True, the DEA has tightened up on Valium. But there are hundreds of other drugs just like the ones that Rush is hooked on that proliferate. And the abuse is widespread.
Getting these drugs illegally is as easy as buying a Snickers candy bar. Internet pharmacies are everywhere. And local suppliers are easy to find, too.
Yes, doctors do a poor job following up on their patients after the original problem is 'solved.' But, in all honesty, it is up to each of us to behave properly and lawfully. And we aren't!
Rush Limbaugh has been 'called' by God to serve a much higher purpose than educating the American public about the failures of Big Government Liberalism. Now Rush's job will be to lead by example a new Campaign Against Prescription Drug Addiction.
Using his powerful radio show, Rush can teach his listeners what he is learning about his own addiction. Betty Ford, a generation ago, introduced the idea of a celebrity fighting this same problem. But she did it through her highly successful Betty Ford Center in Palm Springs. Few people actually go there compared to the millions that Rush speaks to each day on his show.
Instead of his listeners calling Rush each weekday, this time God has 'called' this radio genius to a higher cause.
Let us all pray for Rush's treatment and for his ultimate return to the airwaves. And let us also pray for all those among us who are in a battle against their own addictions. I pray they can overcome this dread disease and once again enjoy a healthy life.
John LeBoutillier, a former U.S. congressman, is an author and
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