NO QUICK FIX FOR LIMBAUGH ADDICTION

BOSTON - Rush Limbaugh is not alone. Addiction to prescription painkillers
has boomed in recent years, and they can be as tough to kick as heroin.

The number of Americans who begin misusing painkillers each year has almost
quadrupled from 1990 to 2001, according to government figures. And many
abusers don't recognize the insidious slide into addiction.

"It's just so much more acceptable in society for people to be taking
prescription drugs," said Sean Evans, 31, of Everett, Mass., a construction
worker who became addicted to the pain reliever OxyContin, then moved on to
heroin. Limbaugh, the conservative radio commentator, told his audience last
week he is addicted to prescription painkillers that he began taking after
spinal surgery "some years ago."

He said he had checked himself in for treatment twice before, without
success. This time, he said he was headed to a rehab center for a month "to
once and for all break the hold this highly addictive medication has on me."

Limbaugh may be overly optimistic about the time frame, said Alice Young, a
psychology professor and a drug researcher at Wayne State University in
Detroit.

"He had said he was going into treatment and lick it within 30 days. I think
that's probably an unrealistic expectation," she said.

Doctors say the biology and treatment of addiction are similar in many ways
for both legal and illegal drugs - from tobacco, alcohol and prescription
painkillers to cocaine and heroin. "In our field, a drug is a drug is a
drug," said Bill Carrick, program manager at the CAB Boston Treatment
Center. Initial treatment often entails detox, sometimes with a substitute
drug such as methadone. During treatment, nonaddictive pain relievers may be
used. Long-term therapy may aim to substitute healthy rewards.