MORE DRUG USERS SHOULD GET LIMBAUGH TREATMENT

About three years ago, Rush Limbaugh confessed he had been addicted
to prescription pain pills for years. He was arrested on a felony
drug charge of prescription fraud on April 30.

However, his attorneys where able to cut a deal with prosecutors that
will result in the charge being dropped if Limbaugh completes a drug
rehab program and stays drug-free for 18 months.

On several occasions, Limbaugh has advocated tougher penalties for
drug-users, stating that they should do prison time. His lawyers and
the prosecution must not share this tough stance.

Can anything good come from such barefaced hypocrisy?

Perhaps if the far right can sympathize with a man who, like
Limbaugh, accidentally became addicted to pain pills during treatment
for back pain, they can learn to sympathize with drug abusers who
tried an addictive substance as youths and became hooked. The latter
usually are condemned as moral failures by the far right.

Despite the hypocrisy surrounding Limbaugh's bargain with
prosecutors, the court did what was right: treating an addict as
someone who needed help, not punishment; rehabilitation instead of
incarceration. Hopefully, future courts can extend this reasonable,
effective, compassionate approach to non-famous, non-white, non-rich
drug offenders.

Billy Mosteller

Canyon