1. Recognizing that your motivation for getting the habit is meaningless, and that a well heeled prescription medication addict is no different from the skankiest crack whore - and each has the same demons to overcome.
2. That sincere repentance and an honest self appraisal include letting those most affected by your actions know that you recognize that your addiction is your fault.
3. Be willing to move on with life, aware of your addiction, yet not shedding feelings of remorse and shame.
He has, by his own admission, been through two short stints which didn't take. Thirty days is mighty short, and he will have to follow through with further activity, NA being an important component.
Were he to take the path you mentioned, he'd fail miserably.
In terms of the motivation - getting off - it's the same for Rush gobbling down the Vicodin, or whatever his particular taste was, as it is for the skanky crack whore who hits the pipe, but let's also be realistic - Rush has, fortunately for him, options that a lot of people don't. Rush gets to go the Betty Ford clinic, whereas skanky crack whores tend to kick the habit around the same time that they die in puddles of their own blood and feces.