Pubdate: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2003 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Author: James Barron LIMBAUGH, TELLING OF PILL ADDICTION, PLANS TO BE TREATED Rush Limbaugh, the nation's most popular radio talk-show host with an audience of 20 million people a week, announced yesterday that he was addicted to prescription painkillers and would check into a rehabilitation center. Mr. Limbaugh, who has been in the forefront of conservative talk radio since the mid-1980's and is widely credited with mobilizing support for the Republican sweep of Congress in 1994 and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1999, made the announcement nine days after he resigned as an ESPN sports analyst because of race-related comments he made about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Mr. Limbaugh - who went from a college dropout to nationwide fame with acid comments about Democrats and environmental "wackos," among others - made the announcement at the end of his midday program. Pulling his golden microphone closer to his mouth, rubbing his nose, scratching an eyebrow, Mr. Limbaugh told his audience on 600 stations nationwide, including WABC-AM in New York, that he wanted "to once and for all break the hold that this highly addictive medication has on me." Mr. Limbaugh, who has regularly told his listeners that drug users should be jailed, said he began taking painkillers after spinal surgery in the 1990's. The operation did not ease the discomfort in his lower back or neck, he said, and instead of having more surgery, "I chose to treat the pain with prescribed medication, and this medication turned out to be highly addictive." He said he had tried to end his dependence on pain pills before, twice checking into "medical facilities." This time, he said, he had agreed with his doctor about "the next steps" he needed to take. He did not say what drugs he is addicted to. News reports have said he is being investigated by law enforcement officials in Florida. Last week, his maid was quoted in The National Enquirer as saying that she met him in parking lots where he handed her cigar boxes filled with cash and she handed him cigar boxes filled with pills, including OxyContin, a time-release narcotic that has been widely abused. Mr. Limbaugh's lawyer, Roy Black, did not return a telephone call for comment. On the air, Mr. Limbaugh said he would not discuss the details "until this investigation is complete." He took issue with reports on the investigation but said he would not comment on them. "I'm only going to say that the stories you have read, the stories you've heard, contain inaccuracies and distortions," he said, "and I'm going to clear those up when I am finally free to speak about them." He did not say when that might be. Nor did he say what center he would check into. He said he would spend 30 days there, beginning immediately after his broadcast yesterday. Michael Sitrick, a spokesman for the company that syndicates Mr. Limbaugh's program, said there was "no relationship" between yesterday's announcement and Mr. Limbaugh's comments about Mr. McNabb. "These are completely unrelated issues," Mr. Sitrick said. Mr. Limbaugh, 52, had declined to discuss the drug issue last Friday, his first day on the air after reports of the Florida investigation had been published. He said he had received thousands of positive e-mail messages. But on Monday, The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial that he had let his listeners down by not discussing the drug accusations. "It strikes us that what people are really waiting to see is whether he will take the consequences of his actions like a man," the editorial said. Alan M. Dershowitz, the Harvard Law School professor, said he believed that Mr. Limbaugh's departure for rehabilitation was intended to "pre-empt the story." He also said he did not believe that Mr. Limbaugh should be prosecuted. Prosecutors rarely charge people who misuse prescription drugs, Mr. Dershowitz said, though they sometimes do file charges against celebrities. "You get more bang for the prosecution buck - you get an enormous deterrent effect," he said. "So the question is whether his status as a celebrity trumps the standard that you usually don't go after users of illegal pharmaceuticals." In 15 years as a syndicated radio star who prided himself on directness, Mr. Limbaugh had made headlines before with surprise announcements to an audience that includes fans so devoted they call themselves dittoheads. In 2001, a few months after signing a nine-year, $285 million contract that was the largest in the history of radio, he said his hearing had all but disappeared. He had surgery to have an electronic device placed in his skull to restore his hearing. Yesterday, Tom Taylor, the editor of Inside Radio, a radio industry newsletter, said Mr. Limbaugh had headed into "terra incognita." "We've never really seen anything quite like this before," Mr. Taylor said. "It's certainly a test of Rush's relationship with his audience. The analogy would be what we saw a couple of years ago, in the crisis with his hearing. Most of his listeners have stuck with Rush for 15 years." Michael Harrison, the publisher of Talkers, a radio trade magazine, predicted that the Limbaugh show's long-term ratings would not be hurt. "It's going to help his career because Rush is now humanized - people love when people show a human side," he said. "It may make some of his people scratch their heads and say: 'Oh, my gosh. Rush is a human being and not a god.' " - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman