DANGEROUS JUDGEMENT

Limbaugh Merits the Same Handling As Others; No More, No Less

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." - Rush
Limbaugh, Oct. 5, 1995.

Last week conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh confessed on the
air that he was addicted to powerful narcotics and that he was checking
himself into a drug rehabilitation program for the next month.

Limbaugh's admission came after national press reports alleged that he had
been buying OxyContin and other painkillers from his Florida housekeeper,
the person who supposedly told authorities.

Much has been said over the past few days about Limbaugh's troubles. But
much of it is beside the point. And the point? The point is that millions of
Americans are battling addiction and many of them are losing. Those who have
not committed other serious crimes don't belong in prison; they belong in a
treatment program.

But society can't fashion a law for one person. Common decency demands that
Limbaugh be treated the way others are treated, whatever that may be.

It is tempting to hurl abuse at the sheer hypocrisy of the man, but
hypocrisy is a character flaw, not a violation of the law. Rush Limbaugh's
predicament holds a powerful and cautionary lesson for anyone who presumes
to pass final judgment on the weaknesses of others.