Rush did not admit to his addiction until he was caught. But before he was caught, this is what he used to say about people that abused drugs on his radio program to millions of his low-information listeners:

I'm appalled at people who simply want to look at all this abhorrent behavior and say, "Hey, you know, we can't control it anymore. People are going to do drugs anyway. Let's legalize it." It's a dumb idea. It's a rotten idea, and those who are for it are purely, 100 percent selfish.

When you strip it all away, Jerry Garcia destroyed his life on drugs. And yet he's being honored, like some godlike figure. Our priorities are out of whack, folks.

These tough sentencing laws were instituted for a reason. The American people, including liberals, demanded them. Don't you remember the crack cocaine epidemic? Crack babies and out-of-control murder rates? Liberal judges giving the bad guys slaps on the wrist? Finally we got tough, and the crime rate has been falling ever since, so what's wrong?

There's nothing good about drug use. We know it. It destroys individuals. It destroys families. Drug use destroys societies. Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. And the laws are good because we know what happens to people in societies and neighborhoods, which become consumed by them. And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.

Limbaugh has been an outspoken critic of what he sees as leniency towards criminal drug use in America. On his television show in October 5, 1995, Limbaugh stated, "too many whites are getting away with drug use" and illegal drug trafficking. Limbaugh proposed that the racial disparity in drug enforcement could be fixed if authorities increased detection efforts, conviction rates, and jail time for whites involved in illegal drugs.

OxyContin has numerous side effects, one of them is hearing loss. Rush had a cochlear implant put into his left ear and now has regained a fraction normal hearing in that ear. However, that hearing is not normal and without the cochlear implant, Limbaugh remains entirely deaf. He has a transcriber for callers and to do interviews. [January 2002] Until then, he relied solely on a TelePrompTer and his staff's assistance to understand his callers. How ironic, this is what he joked about Obama using. What a big fat lying hypocrite.

Rush first became addicted to painkillers "some years ago," following spinal surgery. He had tried to break his dependence in the past and has checked himself into medical facilities twice before.                             

Rush revealed to his listeners on October 10, 2003 that he has been addicted to prescription pain medication for many years, following spinal surgery. Entered an intensive in-patient treatment program and was away from his radio show for five weeks. Is now continuing his treatment as a recovering addict, and has returned to his radio program.

Dr. Drew Pinsky, an addiction specialist in Pasadena, California, told CNN that if Limbaugh is addicted to OxyContin, "We're really talking about opiate addiction. The withdrawal is miserable and painful and it takes a long time to recover." Go figure, 5 weeks, I don’t think so.