RUSH BACK ON AIR AFTER DRUG REHAB, PLEDGES HONESTY

NEW YORK Rush Limbaugh returned to radio today after what he called
"five intense weeks" of rehab for an addiction to painkillers,
promising listeners "even more honesty to come."

The conservative commentator thanked his listeners for their concern
and assured them that his ordeal would not affect his radio program.

"I've not been phoney here, I've not been artificial on the program,"
he said. "I was all of that elsewhere." He did not elaborate.

Limbaugh had not appeared on air since Oct. 10, before he went into a
rehabilitation program in Arizona.

"I spent five intense weeks, probably the most educational and intense
five weeks on myself that I have ever spent. I would have had no idea
how to do this myself," Limbaugh said at the start of his syndicated
radio program.

He also said "there is a whole lot of stuff I can tell you that I
can't tell you yet." He said it's not because he's afraid, adding,
"There's even more honesty to come."

Limbaugh had said he started taking prescription painkillers "some
years ago" when a doctor prescribed them following spinal surgery.
Back pain stemming from the surgery persisted, Limbaugh said, so he
kept taking pills and became hooked.

Admitting he was powerless over his addiction, Limbaugh said he
learned more about himself during rehab than he ever had. He called it
as important as the first grade.

"I am no longer trying to live my life by making other people happy,"
he said, broadcasting from a Manhattan studio. "I can no longer turn
the power of my feelings over to other people."

Limbaugh admitted he had to study to see what had gone on while he was
away, and he quickly returned to familiar topics ? attacking Senator
Edward Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat.

His show reaches some 600 markets and about 20 million listeners a
week, but WABC radio in New York said today it expected to attract a
larger than usual audience on Limbaugh's first day back.

Limbaugh gave up his job as an ESPN sports analyst Oct. 1, three days
after saying on the sports network's Sunday NFL Countdown that
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because
the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed. The drug
allegations surfaced around the same time.

In the past, Limbaugh had decried drug use and abuse on his bluntly
conservative show, arguing that drug crimes deserve punishment.

A law enforcement source in Palm Beach County, where Limbaugh owns a
$24-million US ocean-front mansion, said last week that Limbaugh's
drug use is still under investigation by the state attorney's office.