Will the Rush story change the national dialogue on drugs?

[Sal316]

We all know that the right's position on drugs is "lock 'em up unless they're one of ours", while we are generally in favor of treating addiction for what it is, a disease.

I'm a firm believer in rehabilitation over incarceration. I've known too many good people who've been caught in the endless spiral of drug abuse only to screw themselves in the long run because of jail time.

Considering that Rush is the right's biggest mouthpiece, will we start hearing calls for rehabilitation programs for 'recreational and small time users' and not jail time?

I almost hope so, because I truly believe that rehabilitation is much more effective.

Thoughts?

[SoFlaJets]

1. The govenors'daughter

Noell couldn't get outta her drug problems

[Sal316]

4. Granted there's a 'I want to quit' part of it...

..with any addiction. You know, the old '1st step is admitting there's a problem'.

But for those who want to clean up but lack the willpower to do it solo, rehab should be an acceptable option.

[Warpy]

21. Sure she did

She got "soft" rehab, without being busted by anyone but the staff for using drugs during her stay. There was never the threat of jail for a sainted Bush brat.

The rich and famous get rehab. The rest of us get long mandatory sentences in prison. I doubt that is going to change, because the rich feel safer with more of us in prison.

Lamebawl will deny, then cry about his weakness and his sin. He will be welcomed as a hero once he gets out of rehab again. He'll never again enjoy the popularity spewing bile at the rest of us, but he's unimaginably rich, so he won't suffer for it. He'll live out his life in upscale watering holes, regaling everybody about what a bigshot he used to be. They'll listen, because he's rich.

The rest of us will continue going to prison, where we belong. Being poor or working class is a crime, you know.

[Sal316]

29. There's got to be a critical point though...

...where the double standard just becomes too much for people to bear.

The rest of us will continue going to prison, where we belong. Being poor or working class is a crime, you know.


Sad but true, my friend.

:shrug:

[judge_smales]

2. Nope.

He's in w/ the religious right. They would necer go for that.

[Sal316]

9. We don't have to focus on the untrainable..

..just those who, now that their hero has fallen, may be having a change of heart.

[bryant69]

3. I hate to ask this

I've looked around and can't find links to this story--does anybody know where this story is?

[Sal316]

8. Here's the NY Daily News link

Talk-radio titan Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market drug ring. The moralizing motormouth - who quit his ESPN gig in the midst of an uproar about his racial comments - was turned in by his former housekeeper.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/122839p-110349c.html

[bryant69]

15. Thank you

[Scottie72]

5. although

wouldn't it be poetic justice to have him thrown in jail? :evilgrin:

Though I do definitely believe if he is addicted to drugs that he should get himself into rehab.

[ewagner]

6. The right wing has two problems with this

First, they are the ones who wanted tough, mandatory sentences for drug users, and now they have to put up or shut up.

Second, Ashcroft and his merry band of Nazis have started this "If you buy drugs you support terrorists!" campaign and now they have one of their big bullhorns buying drugs and therefore supporting terrorists..........

They either have to hang Limbaugh out to dry or face charges of hypocrisy!

[Sal316]

13. The right has screwed themselves with this, true.

They are stuck between a rock and a hard place with Rush.

I'm talking bigger picture here, not just the Nazis of the right, because face it, when an African-American celebrity is busted the general reaction is a massive shoulder shrug.

This is a white, conservative, hugely successful (whether we like it or not) male here. Middle America's idol is a druggie.

[LuminousX]

18. They scoff at charges of hypocrisy

They are living hypocrisy every day and people just expect it. It is also why they can get away with murder, literally.

[Sal316]

27. With this, it's the hypocrisy that I'm counting on...

...to cause the cognative dissonance that might jar some thoughts loose.

[Warpy]

22. Um, has the right ever shrunk from hypocrisy?

NT

[uberotto]

31. They will not hang him and it will not be hypocrisy...

The right has made it perfectly clear on more than several occasions that the laws do not, and were never intended, to apply to them.

[Bandit]

7. I hope you are right. ~ Rush will not go to jail so he needs to at least

advocate for rehabilitation. Will he? I doubt it. He will say it is all lies and he was set up. They never admit they did anything wrong.

[Sal316]

10. He didn't admit he was wrong re: McNabb.

There was someone on CNN this morning (6ish Arizona time) talking about how he made this pompous defense from inside the 'cozy cocoon' of his studio.

I don't think he'll advocate it, but some of the less extreme may take a second look.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

17. actually

if you look into it you see a history of Rush having a rather Libertarian view on drug policy in this country. He understood that drug policy in this country fueled the fire it wanted to extinguish.

The problem is that Rush was such an advocate of legislating morality he could never separate classic right wing dogma from his discussion, so the grey area where he meshed with the left on his approach to drug policy would always be tainted by his loyalty to the moralists.

I would hate for Rush to be martyred, vindicated even, if the outing of his addiction were to be the event that had people rethink drug policy in this country. There are too many good people in prison now for victimless crimes, people who have only minded their own business in their own lives, to have Rush be the poster child for the reformation of drug policy in this country.

[Sal316]

23. Oh, I completely agree.

There are too many good people in prison now for victimless crimes, people who have only minded their own business in their own lives, to have Rush be the poster child for the reformation of drug policy in this country.

But is it possible that some good can come out of this, even if it's just more discussion, without him being the poster child?

[amazona]

11. rush needs to be jailed

Until we see rich and powerful people go to prison for their drug possession and distribution (yeah, they don't sell, but they do give it away by providing it at parties), then we will never see a clean-up of our disgraceful prison system which promotes disease, male rape, and a host of other social problems that come back to haunt poor communities.

The two track system of rehab for the rich, jail for the poor is just business as usual. By being "understanding" about the weakness of the rich, we are encouraging the continuance of a system that preys on the poor and infects them with everything from hepatitis to hopelessness.

I believe, no matter where we stand on the issue of legalization of drugs -- and I lean strongly toward legalization of drugs -- we must demand prison in this case.


when rush is in prison, there will be controls on prison rape

[Sal316]

19. The two track system makes me ill, too.

I strongly support legalization and rehab programs vs. mandatory sentences. To be honest, it took me a while to 'see the light' but that was mostly my Navy brainwashing. lol!

I think, yes, due to the size of this he should go to jail. This was much more than a couple joints.

I'm talking overall, though. Big picture of what follows this.

[FreeperSlayer]

12. Rush: supporter of terrorism

Don't let 'em forget it

[Brian Sweat]

14. It will heighten the cognative disonance.

What we will here is that abusing prescription drugs (even if you obtain them illegally) is a victimless crime and that people who do this are really the only victim.

Illicit drugs are a different story, because, since they are illegal, they attract the criminal element and so they should remain illegal.

[hexola]

16. It's the LEGAL drugs that are the problem

I hope this situation highlights the major problem that legal drugs have become...these problems far outweigh those caused by illegal drugs...

[chadm]

20. What national dialog?

You mean the kind on CNN or on the street?

[Sal316]

24. Yes. Both.

Taking another look at rehab vs. incarceration.

Conservative America's hero got busted... that's got to make at least a few of them stop and think.

[Mari333]

25. Oxycontin almost killed my son

Its a white kid in rural area kind of drug, white kid in suburb drug..only if the kid has money, which my son did..
He has a back disability, and the Doc gave him Vicoden..that started it....he was hooked, and the easy availibility of Oxycontin was available once his prescription ran out (poor people sell it here for cash)..
Luckily, he told me, and I sat with him through the most horrible withdrawals Ive ever seen.
I also made him move out on his own and away from here. This stuff is bad....It is very bad..and its everywhere in rural areas. There arent any jobs, this is what many people sell to make money.
I would HOPE that social policies in a NEW WH regime would be in place so that illegal sale of Oxys would override arresting someone like Chong for Bongs...gads..
Plus, the PD in town have had to cut their staff due to state budget cuts..
In the meantime, NO JOBS=illegal drug sales going up. Its how people make money, pure and simple.

[Sal316]

28. Now that's what I'm trying to get to.

..that this is all part of a larger picture. It doesn't just affect the 'junkie in the alley', but many many more.

I think we all agree that the "War on Drugs" has been an abysmal failure in every way. After..what..almost 20 years now through "Just say No"?

It's time to look at this in a new light.


Thanks Mari333

[SEAburb]

26. it will, once again, show the double standard in the way whites

are treated in drug cases. Minorities are depicted as gangsters and whites as victims.

[uberotto]

30. Sometimes education is more important....

than Rehabilitation.

Generally I would agree with you about the importance of rehabilitation. But as has been pointed out by other posters, putting Rush's big, rich, white ass in prision will definately help to draw attention to our antiquated drug laws.

[MrPrax]

32. Not sure...But it will change one dialogue

"Oh you listen to Rush...how can you trust him...he's a drug addict"
"Oh rush would say that...it's probably the drugs"
"How can you be sure Rush wasn't on drugs when he said that"
"How come Rush doesn't do a drug test"
"Are Oxies the only drugs Rush does"
"Did he get them from Canada, cheap and I thought Canadian drugs were dangerous and unsafe"
"Isn't prescription fraud a crime and why isn't Rush going to jail"
"Did Rush have the same doctor as Elvis"
"Does he shoot his Oxies or just swallow"
"Do people who listen to Rush take drugs too...and if so why is he on the radio...he might encourage people to take drugs"
"If detox didn't work for Rush, then why bother with the war on drugs"

ETC ETC

[Scaramouche]

33. It's so sad to see a Great Man....

supporting terrorism...

:evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: