[Maelakin]

Originally posted by LordKathen: [img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img] I would disagree. I think he is as guilty as what he has judged in the past. Painkillers of that magnitude are a narcitic. Just like Cocain. They are both controlled substances. He broke the law useing and acuiring them. Period. To compare illegaly aquired prescription narcotics to illegaly aquired street drugs does not negate the level of criminal activity he practiced. I have heard him completely bash and judge people doing both. Without knowing anything about the individual cercomstanses in each case. He does what I here fundy conservatives do all the time on talk radio, generlise the issues, place false judgment, and then thank God for his own guidance. He is a hipocrit, and the only way I see a ligitimate respectfull comeback (in more eyes than just the other fundy conserves) is to not only admit the addiction and seek help, but to apologise for the many comments and judgement has made in the past, publicly. I personaly dont care if he does make a comeback. I dont heed the advice from arrogant yet ignorant people like him. But, alot of influencial people do, like some senior citizens for example, and get the wrong impression that all who use drugs are slime. What kind of impression do you think they have of him now? [img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img] P.S. Sorry for my spelling, it is late and I am tired.

I would agree with you IF he had not had the medication prescribed to him by a doctor. Once prescribed, if addiction occurs is it really the fault of the patient, or should we be pointing the finger at the doctor who obviously made an errant decision.

Oxycontin is a very good example. Of all the painkillers, Oxycontin is one of the most addictive. Doctors know and understand this, yet they continue to prescribe it to people without a second thought. Most people trust their doctors enough to take the medications they prescribe. I don’t believe anyone knows of every side effect of every medication they have taken before. We have a level of trust we put into our health care professionals.

As for the acts committed while actually addicted, have you ever been addicted to a drug such as this? You cannot possibly understand what it is like to be addicted to something like Oxycontin unless you have actually gone through it. (For reference, I had an extremely bad addiction to an illegal drug. I have since stopped taking the drug and have been clean for over 5 years, however, I can honestly say I am still an addict and will be for the rest of my life. Every day is a personal struggle, so those who say they can understand without experiencing the actual addiction I call ignorant.) You are not in control of yourself. The drug completely takes over your life and controls every action you take. Most people understand that they need to get off the drugs, but they cannot do it. More often than not it isn’t even possible to recover with professional help.

The biggest attributing factor to continued addiction is the blame you place on yourself. You don’t want others to know so you try and hide your addiction. You are embarrassed of your actions, but it is hard to admit to others that you have allowed yourself to become so dependant upon a substance. You end up unable to face your addiction because you are unable to face other people.

Because of my past, I feel sorry for every person who faces an addiction because of the ineptitude of his or her doctors. Maybe this doesn’t apply to Rush and maybe it does. However, either way we don’t know and just because he may have stated things in the past he shouldn’t have, I don’t believe you should judge him now after his ordeal. In my mind, you would be worse than him if you did. He faced an addiction and is attempting to overcome that addiction.

If in the future he makes statements about those who are addicted to various drugs in a derogatory manner, by all means let him have it. If he makes statements about those of us who willingly made the decision to take illegal drugs, we deserve it. When you illegally acquire drugs and put them in your body you accept the addiction as a possibility. That is not always the case for prescribed medications. Judge those who begin their addiction criminally; don’t judge those committing criminal acts because of an addiction.