🚀 go-pugleaf

"Garth" <garth@waer.us> wrote in message
news:3f7ca043.2850222@news.io.com...
> New York Daily News
> Thursday, October 2nd, 2003
>
> Rush Limbaugh in pill probe
> By TRACY CONNOR
> DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
>
> Talk-radio titan Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly
> buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market drug
> ring.
>
> The moralizing motormouth was turned in by his former housekeeper -
> who says she was Limbaugh's pill supplier for four years.
>
> Wilma Cline, 42, says Limbaugh was hooked on the potent prescription
> drugs OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone - and went through detox
> twice.
>
> "There were times when I worried," Cline told the National Enquirer,
> which broke the story in an edition being published today. "All these
> pills are enough to kill an elephant - never mind a man."
>
> Cline could not be reached for further comment yesterday, but her
> lawyer, Ed Shohat of Miami, said his client "stands behind the story."
>
> The Daily News independently confirmed that Limbaugh is under
> investigation.
>
> His lawyers, Jerry Fox and Dan Zachary, refused to comment on the
> accusations and said any "medical information" about him was private
> and not newsworthy.
>
> They said Limbaugh - who has a top-rated syndicated radio show but
> resigned early today from a weekly ESPN football segment amid
> criticism of racial comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback
> Donovan McNabb - was traveling and had no comment.
>
> The Palm Beach County state attorney's office, which is running the
> probe, said it could not confirm or deny the allegations.
>
> Scoring in parking lot
>
> Cline told the Enquirer she went to prosecutors with information about
> Limbaugh and others after four years of drug deals that included
> clandestine handoffs in a Denny's parking lot.
>
> She said she wore a wire during her last two deliveries to the
> conservative commentator and gave the tapes to authorities.
>
> She also gave the Enquirer a ledger documenting how many pills she
> claimed to have bought for him - 4,350 in one 47-day period - and
> E-mails she claimed Limbaugh sent her.
>
> In one missive, Limbaugh pushed Cline to get more "little blues" -
> code for OxyContin, the powerful narcotic nicknamed hillbilly heroin,
> she said.
>
> "You know how this stuff works ... the more you get used to, the more
> it takes," the May 2002 E-mail reads. "But I will try and cut down to
> help out."
>
> The account Cline gave the Enquirer is that she became Limbaugh's drug
> connection in 1998, nine months after taking a housekeeping job at his
> Palm Beach mansion.
>
> It started after her husband, David, hurt himself in a fall, and
> Limbaugh asked how he was.
>
> "He asked me casually, 'Is he getting any pain medication?' I said,
> 'Yes - he's had surgery, and the doctor gave him hydro-codone 750,'"
> Cline said. "To my astonishment, he said, 'Can you spare a couple of
> them?'"
>
> Husband's pills
>
> Cline said she gave Limbaugh 10 pills the next day and agreed to give
> him 30 of her husband's pills each month. When the doctor stopped
> renewing the prescription in early 1999, Limbaugh allegedly went
> ballistic.
>
> "His tone was nasty and bullying. He said, 'I don't care how or what
> you do, but you'd better - better! - get me some more,'" Cline said.
>
> The housekeeper said she found a new supplier and arranged to hide
> Limbaugh's stashes under his mattress so his wife, Marta, wouldn't
> find them.
>
> After several months, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for
> detox and didn't need any more pills, Cline said.
>
> But a month later, he said his left ear was hurting and asked her for
> hydrocodone, followed by an order for OxyContin.
>
> Limbaugh, 52, suffered from autoimmune ear disease, a condition that
> left him deaf and had to be corrected with cochlear implant surgery
> two years ago.
>
> Cline said she continued to make deliveries to Limbaugh even after she
> quit as his housekeeper in July 2001 - but he became increasingly
> paranoid, even patting her down for recording devices, she said.
>
> In June 2002, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox a
> second time.
>
> After he returned, "I went to talk to him, and he cried a little bit,"
> she said. "He told me that if it ever got out, he would be ruined."
>
> She claimed that a lawyer for Limbaugh gave her a payoff - $80,000 he
> owed her, plus another $120,000 - and asked her to destroy the
> computer that contained the E-mail records.
>
> Soon after, Cline and her husband retained Shohat and contacted
> prosecutors.
>
> ----------------------------
>
> Feeling no pain
>
> The drugs Rush Limbaugh is accused of abusing are legal only with a
> doctor's prescription. All are habit-forming.
>
> Hydrocodone
> Anti-cough agent and painkiller similar to morphine. Side effects
> include anxiety, poor mental performance, emotional dependence,
> drowsiness, mood changes, difficulty breathing and itchiness.
>
> Lorcet
> Brand name for the combination of Tylenol and hydrocodone, prescribed
> for moderate to severe pain. Side effects include dry mouth, nausea,
> vomiting, decreased appetite, dizziness, tiredness, muscle twitches,
> sweating and itching.
>
> OxyContin
> Potent time-release medication for relief of moderate to severe pain,
> known as hillbilly heroin because of black-market popularity in some
> rural areas. Side effects include drowsiness, dizziness, sweating,
> muscle twitches and decreased sex drive. A large dose can be fatal.
>
And this is why I can't consume cannabis.
George Washington is shocked =:O