"I Am Addicted To Prescription Pain Medication"

According to his ex-housekeeper Wilma Cline, Limbaugh was bullying her into providing ever-larger supplies of painkiller pills at the time. By Cline's account, he took as many as 30 OxyContin pills a day. It is not clear why Cline went to the authorities. She could still be prosecuted, despite a partial grant of immunity, say law-enforcement sources. The investigation has so far produced an arrest of a Palm Beach County couple accused of pushing hydrocodone and OxyContin. Limbaugh's lawyer, Roy Black, has been quietly talking to the prosecutors. (The timing of the story is also a source of intrigue. The National Enquirer was tipped off to Limbaugh's habit two years ago. It may or may not be a coincidence that the story appeared just five days after Limbaugh quit his sideline job as an ESPN football analyst in a storm of controversy; Limbaugh had suggested that the NFL had been pushing Philadelphia Eaglesquarterback Donovan McNabb because of his race, not his talent.)

Limbaugh may have to undergo the indignities of the legal system: arrest, a "perp walk," a criminal trial. But he faces a more immediate ordeal, trying to withdraw from addiction to powerful drugs. Limbaugh has given himself 30 days at a treatment center; medical experts say that truly freeing himself from addiction could take much longer.

Will the Dittoheads forgive him? Probably. Gary Bauer, president of the conservative organization American Values, drew a distinction between a crack addict and Limbaugh's brand of addiction. "From a moral standpoint, there's a difference between people who go out and seek a high and get addicted and the millions of Americans dealing with pain who inadvertently get addicted," Bauer told NEWSWEEK.

Limbaugh's best shot at keeping his vast audience is by being open about his problem. Glenn Beck, an up-and-coming conservative talk-radio host who is regarded as one of the heirs if Limbaugh falters, is himself a former drug addict and recovering alcoholic. "The hardest thing I had to do was stand up in front of a room of people and say, 'I'm an alcoholic,' and those were people who were sympathetic to what I was saying. He had to do it in front of 18 million... I can't imagine how hard it was to get on the air and say I have a problem." Limbaugh's long-running act as a paragon of virtue is over. Now the question is whether he can make a virtue out of honesty.

WITH ARIAN CAMPO-FLORES AND CATHARINE SKIPP IN WEST PALM BEACH; MARTHA BRANT, MARK HOSENBALL, DEBRA ROSENBERG AND ELEANOR CLIFT IN WASHINGTON; KEVIN PERAINO, SUZANNE SMALLEY, SUSANNAH MEADOWS, PEG TYRE AND REBECCA SINDERBRAND IN NEW YORK

© 2003