DESPERATE DRUG RUSH

October 12, 2003 -- A desperate, drug-addicted Rush Limbaugh begged his
dealer to score him a final, explosive dope cocktail just two weeks before
he attempted to detox last year, a new report says.

The call was one of dozens the conservative radio host made to his
housekeeper, Wilma Cline, 42, who doubled as his supplier.

"Just two weeks [to detox] . . . I kind of want to go out with a bang, if
you get my drift," Limbaugh wrote in an e-mail to Cline, according to the
latest edition of the National Enquirer.

Limbaugh's former housekeeper claimed she helped the radio host buy 30,000
hydrocodone, Lorcet and OxyContin pills from black-market suppliers between
1998 and 2002.

She said Limbaugh would sometimes call and e-mail her several times a day
begging her to buy him more drugs.

"I am leaving town next Wednesday and may need a restock on Tuesday . . . if
possible," he wrote to her in one message in January of last year, the
tabloid reported.

In another he wrote: "An additional 100 or 200 would do."

Cline also said her former boss was so desperate to get his hands on
painkillers that he pressured one man into handing over pills prescribed for
his wife after she'd had a miscarriage.

Cline said he had also scored pills from a stenographer with a broken leg.

"He was shameless," the housekeeper told the paper.

"If he knew anyone who was suffering pain, he would try to persuade them to
share their pills."

Limbaugh admitted to his addiction Friday, telling his stunned radio
audience he was checking into rehab immediately.

He said the six-year addiction began after he was prescribed painkillers
following spinal surgery.

Sources yesterday told The Post Limbaugh may have gone to the exclusive
Sierra Tucson rehab facility in Tucson, Ariz.

"This is where people go when they really want to be cured," one source
said. "As patients progress, they are moved into the facility's luxury spa."

The center would not confirm Limbaugh's presence.

Limbaugh's addiction to painkillers may have caused his sudden deafness two
years ago, said the report.

Studies show habitual use of powerful drugs such as Lorcet - one of the
substances the conservative pundit allegedly abused - contributed to dozens
of diagnosed cases of deafness.

One study by the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles that found at least 48
patients who abused drugs such as Lorcet, a mix of acetaminophen and
hydrocodone, had been treated for sudden hearing loss.