In defense of prescription drug addicts

townhall.com ^ | 10/08/03 | Ben Shapiro

[kattracks]

It wasn't hard to detect the glee last week when the National Enquirer published allegations that Rush Limbaugh was addicted to prescription painkillers. Al Franken, liberal un-funnyman, sneered that if the allegations were true, he was "looking forward to the perp walk." The ultra-liberal Web site DemocraticUnderground.com smirked, "Yup, if the rumors are true, Rush Limbaugh is a big fat junkie." Tony Norman, columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, wrote that Limbaugh was "a mere notch or two above a low-rent crack addict."

Shame on them. Shame on Al Franken for his contemptible chortling. Shame on the DemocraticUnderground.com for its disgusting mockery. Shame on Tony Norman for his hateful comments. Shame on the media for turning a medical issue into a political one.

Unlike recreational drug addiction, prescription painkiller addiction belongs squarely in the medical arena. Recreational drug addiction is just that -- recreational. A junkie first picks up marijuana, cocaine or heroin in order to have a good time. No one prescribes heroin for back pain. But for many who become addicted to prescription painkillers, the dealer who gets them hooked is their family doctor.

In 1969, my paternal grandmother, known to our family as "Gaga," became addicted to prescription painkillers. "I was in tremendous pain because of my back, and the doctors didn't know why," Gaga told me last Friday. "So they were giving me all kinds of pain pills, over and over and over again to try and kill the pain. They didn't realize how much I was taking, and neither did I. Suddenly, I was addicted to them. It killed the pain. And the pain had been incredible."

Gaga was taking 10 different types of pills per day. "They started you off with a little bit, then more and more," she remembers. "When you're taking painkillers, you feel great. ... It's easy to feel great. It's easy to say, 'Doctor, I need more pills.'

"I was totally addicted to the pills, I couldn't live without them."

Dr. Clifford A. Bernstein is the medical director of the Waismann Institute, a prominent substance-abuse treatment center specializing in rapid detoxification from opiate addiction. Dr. Bernstein's patients used to be nearly 100 percent heroin addicts. Now, 70 percent of his patients are prescription painkiller addicts. "Everybody says they had a pain problem. That's why they got started on painkillers," Bernstein told me Tuesday.

"When you're hooked on these drugs, you're going to do whatever needs to be done to get that medication," Bernstein said.

Dr. Bernstein cited a common scenario: You have back pain. You go to your doctor, who prescribes Vicodin. The Vicodin makes the pain stop and also makes you feel calmer. You're able to work, take care of your family, do what you need to do. So you talk yourself into continuing.

"It's a very gray line," Dr. Bernstein explains. "What becomes abuse of a drug, and what is just improving your quality of life?"

After six months of the painkillers, Gaga noticed that her memory was gone. Frightened, she went to a psychiatrist. He told her to get rid of the pills. "He didn't tell me how to do it; he just told me to go home and dump them." Gaga cold-turkeyed it. Withdrawal began.

My father, then 13, recalls how terrible the withdrawal was. "Papa and I had to take 12-hour shifts, holding Gaga as she had terrifying hallucinations." She thrashed about on her bed for 72 straight hours. The full withdrawal lasted weeks. It almost killed her.

When I related Gaga's story to Dr. Bernstein, he recognized that she "has a lot more perseverance than most people." For many addicts, it is easier to pick up the pills and stop the pain. So that's what they do.

Even those who check into detox aren't guaranteed success. "Most detoxes are not effective. It's not a medical treatment. Someone like Rush Limbaugh is not going to go into a 30-day inpatient program and hang out with a bunch of junkies talking about his issues, right? So what they end up doing is putting these people in the hospital, detoxing them for a few days and then letting them go. They're still withdrawing, they're still craving, and that's why they fail."

It is despicable how the media have equated prescription painkiller addiction with recreational drug addiction. There is a moral difference between the two types of addicts. All drug addicts deserve sympathy, but prescription painkiller addicts clearly deserve more sympathy than recreational users. Gaga says that she'd like to tell prescription painkiller addicts: "I'm with you." The rest of us should do the same.

©2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Contact Ben Shapiro | Read Shapiro's biography

[kattracks]

The author is assuming that Rush has a prescription drug problem, which has not been established.

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[U S Army EOD]

You got to admit when dealing with the democratic underground that you are dealing with a bunch of experts, been there done that, as far as drug addictions are concerned.

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

"It's a very gray line," Dr. Bernstein explains. "What becomes abuse of a drug, and what is just improving your quality of life?"

This is very true. If you have ever seen a family member suffer and suffer and finally get relief from prescribed drugs, you can understand.

I have one such family member and his case was so severe that he was a regular patient of pain management and therefore always received his drugs legally.

If he couldn't have, I don't know how he could have faced life.

Finally, the leg that caused him such tremendous pain was amputated, but the drug addiction was solidly in place. It was never his choice.

He did end up recovering, but withdrawal was very difficult.

This whole issue needs to be judged by the individual involved and all that has taken place in his or her situation.

[etcetera]

There was a time when I used to like Al Franken. I found him funny. But ever since GW became president, Al's taken on a whole new personna. I'm turned off by his mean hatefuleness. I wonder if he can see how he's changed?

[Badray]

"The author is assuming that Rush has a prescription drug problem, which has not been established."

True, but as he referred only to the allegations, I believe that he is right on target. It's a medical situation that needs to be resolved, not a crime to be punished.

If the allegations are true, what he did was buy a legal substance illegally. That's quite different from using illegal drugs.

[cricket]

"The author is assuming that Rush has a prescription drug problem, which has not been established."

Well, don't think there is rush to judgment here on the part of Shapiro, necessarily; but he is responding to the gleeful ridicule that passes as 'judgment' against Rush by those who hate him .

And he is educating the rest of us to a better understanding, if it is disclosed that Rush experienced this treacherous slippery slope of pain pill addiction.

[holyscroller]

Whether Rush has a problem or not, according to Franken, he always will always be guilty. Franken isn't one to be disuaded by facts. He is being consumed by his hatred for Bush/Republicans/Christians/Conservatives/Rush, etc. His vicious hatred is even changing his appearance.

[CyberAnt]

Exactly!!

[BobbyK]

I hear that at the Washington Press Corespondents dinner.
It was Bill O', or Sean H. about went fisticuffs or fistcity,
with the piece of crap, thus getting himself escorted away from Fox's
table, mouth drooling, slobbering, quite a scene.

[jazzlite]

This is an excellent article about a common problem which, unfortunately, is often a side-effect of successful medical treatment for terrible conditions and diseases. If Rush had or has this difficulty to cope with, it is certainly understandable and it is despicable, as this author points out, that some in the liberal media, during their salivation to do away with Rush, have literally mocked those who might suffer from this...

[fightinJAG]

At one point Brett Favre had an addiction to Vicodin, begun just as stated in this article---prescribed for pain. He went through some detox program, got his act together, and continued on to become the great QB that he is.

[hoosierham]

It can be VERY easy to become addicted to DOCTOR PRESCRIBED drugs ; isn't that what killed Elvis Presley ?

If you have never sufffered agonizing pain that lasts for days,weeks or months then you don't know the wonderful feeling of having that pain go away. It is easy to understand why a person might go to some trouble to obtain that relief.After a serious injury ,my doctor practically pushed painkillers at me; I think he couldn't believe anyone could rest or function with the small amount I did take . Of course, I am seriously addicted to good cookies and sodas !

AS for Rush, isn't the ALLEGED number of pills so high that anyone taking that many would be an inarticulate, slobbering fool ,hardly able to form a coherent thought ? If Rush does have a problem you can bet it is much smaller than alleged.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Unfortunately, Rush has done nothing to quash the assumption. Even Sean Hannity's comments yesterday seem to be preparing for the possibility that where there is smoke, there is fire. Illegal drug use is illegal drug use PERIOD.

. If the charges are true (and I am hope they are groundless), Rush's best hope is to abandon his past agenda of supporting jail time for other illegal users and come out for drug legalization. After all, legalization fits better with his stated philosophy of freedom and responsibility.

His other alternative (if the charges are true), of course, is to play the "I can't help it, I'm an addict" card, which runs contrary to his many "nicotine stained" speeches for personal responsibility.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Yes....but Rush has always spoken out against addict victim hood and for personal responsiblity. It won't wash. If the charges are true, he needs to be consistent and come out for legalization.

[Wolfie]

Heh, sounds like the author needs a laser to split that hair.

[jimt]

The author is attempting a pre-emptive strike on those who'd accuse Rush of hypocrisy for his pro WOsD stance combined with secret pill taking.

If the rumors are true Rush needs a few hundred more apologia pieces like this, because he will have been proven a hypocrite. A junkie is a junkie, no matter what the drug.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Hey....I'd be satisfied if Rush comes out against prescription laws, but I doubt even that will happen. The odd thing is that I think that deep-down Rush "knows better."

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Brit Hume