'Doctor-shopping' cases not unusual locally (Scaife paper hits Rush)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/news/s_174113.html

Talk radio king Rush Limbaugh argues that his fame and conservative politics prompted politically ambitious Florida prosecutors to treat him differently than others who've obtained painkiller prescriptions by "doctor shopping."

His lawyer says that the Palm Beach County prosecutors investigating Limbaugh have charged only one other person in the past five years with illegally acquiring prescriptions from multiple sources.

That's not the case locally.

Deputy District Attorney Richard D. Goldberg, supervisor of the narcotics unit for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., said his office handles about 150 such cases annually.

"The people that are honestly addicts, they are no different than heroin addicts," Goldberg said. "We aren't looking to throw them in jail. We want to get them into treatment. But they are prosecuted."