They may have no case at all. They will make him spend a fortune on lawyers. They will put him under stress and hope he relapses. All addicts get the substance they abuse somewhere. It is not often that prosecutors spend time and resources chasing after this type of violator, unless it can be politically helpful. Rush knew it. I have one question. How did he play so much golf on that crap?
Maybe Rush is using his "back" problem as a smokescreen for his addiction.
Persons caught up in addiction do tend to look for every excuse under the sun before blaming their problems on themselves. Especially those who go on an on about personal resposibility and pulling one's self up by your own boot straps.
I've wondered about that myself. I gave the game up because of back problems. I think the "pain" is likely to just be the excuse every addiction prone person needs to justify his addiction to himself and others.
You nailed the situation perfectly in your post.
Rush made one mistake. Once he found himself beginning to get addicted, he did not go to his doctors for help; he chose to enjoy the pills a little first. That was all she wrote.
Once addicted, he now had a soft spot where his many adversaries could probe. And open access to it by his attempts to feed his habit (going through unsavory types and too many legal prescriptions).
The good thing for Rush is that this could have ended two ways: either he was going to get caught or he was going to get dead. Getting caught, as horrible as this is, is the preferable of the two.
I hope he can get out of this mess without feeling indignant or virtuous. It's a time for humility and responsibility, but he should not receive more than community service. And his community service should be spent speaking to the public about how easy it is to become addicted to legally prescribed painkillers, and what not to do as you feel yourself slipping.
Perhaps he could share the podium with an addiction doctor who gives people techniques to be able to make best use of pain medication and still avoid addiction, and when to tell someone you are becoming addicted before your personality changes and your number one goal in life is to get more drugs.
When I saw that clip of Rush on the ESPN sports show, the one where he made the McNabb comment, I thought he seemed pretty wired. In fact, I commented to my DH that Rush seemed wired pretty much of the time on his radio show. And then, right after that McNabb/ESPN fiasco, out comes these rumors/charges/allegations, etc. about drug addiction, pill buying, etc., and I immediately wondered if Rush's demeanor was the result of being high on the oxicontin.