ADDICTION ABOUT DISEASE, NOT THE MORAL HIGH GROUND

When It Comes To Rush Limbaugh, Go Ahead, Flag Me For Being Offside.

But I'll skip the piling on.

If you read this space even irregularly, you know I'm no fan of Limbaugh,
radio's biggest mouth. That puts me at odds with 20 million regulars who
listen to Limbaugh on more than 600 radio stations.

Like him or not, the guy's a force.

And he's had a bad month.

Limbaugh pulled over and parked his considerable star in the long-term lot
last week when he admitted on air that he was addicted to painkillers and
entering drug rehab for 30 days.

His admission came on the heels of his well-publicized flameout on ESPN as a
football analyst after he accused national sportswriters of colluding to
prop up a black professional quarterback.

Limbaugh's detractors could hardly contain their glee, especially since
slack gets very little play in the world according to Rush who has always
taken a hard line on drug use. They smelled hypocrisy in the water.

But don't look for me in the heap of unwell-wishers, whose ranks are flush
with those insisting on jail time for Limbaugh's OxyContin jones followed by
a lifetime appointment as the mayor of Obscurata.

Among the pilers-on are his nemesis Al Franken and Democratic politicians
who have felt the sting of the Rush Lash.

With enemies like that, Limbaugh needs to count on his friends -- some of
whom need clues. Limbaugh is dealing with drug addiction, not a bad choice
in ties.

Case No Different

Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, now running the politically
conservative American Values, told Newsweek that Limbaugh's habit came with
a silver, moral lining.

"From a moral standpoint, there's a difference between people who go out and
seek a high and get addicted and the millions of Americans dealing with pain
who inadvertently get addicted," Bauer said.

So if Limbaugh said he was entering rehab to kick a port wine habit or that
he smoked crack during commercials, he would be a less sympathetic figure?
Exchanging cigar boxes of cash for 30 hits is not "seeking?"

This is a disease, not a moral issue. The last thing a guy fighting for his
life needs is for someone to tell him that his case is different, that his
circumstance, his connections, his fans, his money, his ego, his whatever
make his junkiedom unique.

For evidence of the efficacy of such thinking see the strange but
predictable case of Robert Downey Jr.

For those thinking painkillers are a universe unto themselves, check the
track record (or needle marks) of the nearest junkie or alcoholic -- who
could very well be the same person. How you get to Hype City makes little
difference. Once you're there, the drugs equal things out.

How many high schools and colleges will host insightful and sober alcoholics
and addicts this year who will rivet students with tales of social drinking
morphing into excess, which they in turn treated with speed to get
themselves moving and then downers and a little wine to brace themselves for
the inevitable fall. After a while, it's all the same.

Liars, Cheats, Thieves

Nor does it matter if a connection is a toothless pimp with a little
pharmaceutical business on the side, a bookmarked Web site willing to take
your credit card or a well-oiled drop and delivery system for those who can
afford the very best.

Limbaugh's case has turned attention to painkillers' and their special
properties, which render thousands defenseless against a daily dance with
the devil.

But meth and heroin and single malt scotch also have properties that make
liars, cheats, thieves and worse out of those who need them to live.

That's the moral component: Those who lives revolve around the next drink or
pill or pull or powder do immoral things to score the drugs that control
every aspect of their lives. But bad people do not become winos and junkies
and good people not.

If Limbaugh pays attention in rehab, he'll hear that. But he needs somebody
painting him into a corner of moral high (or low) ground about as much as he
does the anti-Rushies to keep jumping on the pile.