LIMBAUGH AGREEMENT ENDS DRUG CASE

Radio Host Doesn't Admit Guilt, But Must Continue Treatment For Addiction.

WEST PALM BEACH -- Rush Limbaugh declared victory Monday in his long-
running fight to clear his name after signing a deal with prosecutors
that will dismiss a prescription fraud charge against him in 18
months if he complies with the terms.

Under the deal filed Monday, Limbaugh cannot own a gun, must submit
to random drug tests and has to continue treatment for his
acknowledged addiction to painkillers. But he didn't have to admit
guilt and he continued to proclaim his innocence on his radio show.

"From my point of view, the end result will be as if I had gone to
court and won, but the matter is concluded much sooner," Limbaugh
told his listeners. "I have spent thousands of hours and millions of
dollars with lawyers over the past 27 months fighting this at every stage."

He pleaded not guilty Friday to a charge that he sought a
prescription from a physician in 2003 without revealing that he had
received medications from another practitioner within 30 days.

"Do you think if there was any real evidence, we would have reached a
settlement?" Limbaugh said on his show.

"This is a common sense resolution and the appropriate way the state
should treat people who have admitted an addiction to prescription
pain medication and voluntarily sought treatment," Limbaugh's lawyer,
Roy Black, said in a statement Monday to The Associated Press.

The deal also requires that Limbaugh be available to a court officer
for any questioning throughout the 18-month period. The Palm Beach
County State Attorney's Office may revoke or modify the deal if he
violates the terms. If he complies, he will have no criminal record
at the end of 18 months.

Black said Limbaugh has seen a doctor and has been drug free for 2
1/2 years. "Folks, I haven't even craved a pain pill since I got out
of rehab," Limbaugh told his listeners.

Black said Limbaugh has been undergoing both scheduled and random
drug tests "as part of the treatment program that he entered into
voluntarily, and he has passed them all, so this is nothing new for him."

Prosecutors launched their investigation in 2003 after Limbaugh's
housekeeper alleged he abused OxyContin and other painkillers. He
entered a fiveweek rehabilitation program that year and publicly
blamed his addiction on severe back pain.

The 55-year-old commentator surrendered Friday at the Palm Beach
County jail on a warrant on the charge commonly known as doctor
shopping, a felony that could carry a sentence of up to 5 years in
prison. Limbaugh was booked, photographed and fingerprinted before
being released on $3,000 bail.

The deal ends a three-year investigation that Limbaugh blasted as a
"fishing" expedition.

Prosecutors accused Limbaugh of illegally deceiving multiple doctors
to receive overlapping prescriptions. After seizing his medical
records, authorities learned Limbaugh received up to 2,000
painkillers, prescribed by four doctors in six months.

The single charge only represents Limbaugh allegedly illegally
obtaining about 40 pills, said Mike Edmondson, a state attorney's spokesman.

"The information in the charging document in this particular instance
was only evidence sufficient to support that sole count and that did
not reflect the totality of the evidence we had in the overall
investigation," Edmondson said.

He would not elaborate or explain why prosecutors scaled back the case.

Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. attorney and prominent Miami defense
lawyer, said the agreement is a standard deal for first-time,
nonviolent drug offenders.

"The essence of a pretrial diversion is that you do not acknowledge
guilt," Coffey said. "It doesn't either vindicate the defendant's
innocence nor does it truly vindicate the prosecution's assertion of
guilt. In that sense, it's a draw."