Rush Limbaugh Will Not be Charged over Viagra

Rush Limbaugh will not be charged for carrying a legally prescribed, legal drug, while legally traveling, prosecutors say.

Rush Limbaugh will not face charges in Palm Beach County for the bottle of Viagra found in his luggage that was prescribed in his doctor’s name, prosecutors said Wednesday. Charges could have nullified the conservative radio host’s plea agreement in a “doctor shopping” case.

Limbaugh, 55, was detained for more than three hours at Palm Beach International Airport on June 26 after he returned on his private plane from a vacation in the Dominican Republic. The state attorney’s office said Dr. Steve Strumwasser’s name was on the Viagra bottle, not Limbaugh’s. Strumwasser, who is Limbaugh’s psychiatrist, told authorities he “agreed to have his name on the label in an effort to avoid potentially embarrassing publicity for the suspect,” according to a filing by the prosecutor’s office. “Thus, the medication contained in the subject pill bottle was legitimately prescribed to the suspect by his physician,” the filing said. It is generally not illegal under Florida law for a physician to prescribe medication in a third party’s name if all parties are aware and the doctor documents it correctly, said Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for the state attorney in Palm Beach County.

Shorter DA: Limbaugh committed no crime. Yet, he was detained for three hours and his name dragged through the press for something that was perfectly legal.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is a Professor of Security Studies. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. he â??agreed to have his name on the label in an effort to avoid potentially embarrassing publicity for the suspect,â??

    That doesn’t seem to be working out as well as planned.

  2. James Joyner says:

    True that. Then again, that’s the fault of a despicable press conference by the Palm Beach County Sheriff�s Office to garner publicity for themselves.

  3. madmatt says:

    Lord knows rush has never dragged anybodies name thru the mud…turnabout is fair play!!! Nice to see you have taken to defending admitted drug addicts…you are almost a liberal now!

  4. Len says:

    The man takes off for the Dominican Republic with a bottle of woody pills prescribed in his psychiatrist’s name and you don’t find that the least bit suspicious? C’mon, at least it’s kinda funny. Especially the part about wanting to avoid “potentially embarrassing publicity.” (That worked out real well, didn’t it?)

    The article you linked states that Mr. Limbaugh will not face charges in Palm Beach County, but that the case is being referred to prosecutors in Miami-Dade County for further review.

    We may have some more fun with this one yet.

  5. Anderson says:

    That doesnâ??t seem to be working out as well as planned.

    Right–the procedure could legitimately confuse the cops. But JJ is surely right that the press conference was unnecessary.

  6. legion says:

    Shorter DA: Limbaugh committed no crime. Yet, he was detained for three hours and his name dragged through the press for something that was perfectly legal.

    Um, actually, no. Rush was scoped out after returning on a private plane from an international trip. Perfectly normal procedure. In the process, customs agents found a prescription bottle in Rush’s possession, but without Rush’s name on it. So he gets the full 3-hour runaround. There’s nothing abnormal about that, either.

    Yes, it’s apparently legal for Rush’s doctors to do what they did, but even they admit it’s pretty uncommon. I’m not surprised Rush wasn’t charged, but neither Rush nor anyone else should be surprised at the fine-tooth comb treatment he got.

  7. James Joyner says:

    Legion: Surely, not too many citizens are accosted for three hours by our own agents for carrying a single bottle of Viagra home from a trip. If he’d had a suitcase full of it, sure. But a single bottle?

    I’ve taken many an overseas trip and seldom spent more than 5 minutes with the customs agent once I got to the front of the line.

  8. randall says:

    I spent 20 years working as an aircraft fueler and I can tell you I never saw a citizen of this country detained for 3 hours. The process usually took about 20 minutes to process in an incoming flight. Rush needs to watch his back, the law dogs in Florida have a score to settle with him.

  9. G A Phillips says:

    Seeing that stupidity gives you Libs a everlasting hard_on for good old Rush,we should extract it from you, and bottle it, gee with just an once from one Professor from say Pick any collage in California we could shoot up every dirty old man in this Goofy-ss world you have almost ruined for us.

  10. legion says:

    It’s not about having a prescription bottle on you. It’s about having a prescription bottle on you and no way to prove it’s yours, and a prior controlled-substance record. I know, he wasn’t convicted, but it’s still public knowledge…

  11. Michael Wayne says:

    Legion:

    The obnoxious behavior of the customs official when Rush arrived is bizarre at a minimum. She was speaking in a loud voice about the ‘illegal’ drugs Rush had and went to get her supervisor. The supervisor decided that Rush should be detained because his ‘name’ was not on the bottle. 30 pills issued in Jan 2006, 29 pills left six months later. Palm Beach County got involved to get Rush released from this eternally pluperfect cluster clunk only for PBC officials to ‘leak’ this info to the press.

    Rush was not charged – there was no cause. End of story except now, Rush will not travel internationally because he knows the target on his back just got larger. Heh. He’s got the libs number and they’ll be sorry for irritating Rush. I would be willing to guarantee that.

  12. Bithead says:

    Lord knows rush has never dragged anybodies name thru the mud�turnabout is fair play!!!

    This from the same man who also said:

    Hey bitheadâ?¦where did I suggest or wish violence on himâ?¦I would much rather he was alive and being raped in prison for the next 7 yearsâ?¦

    Something of a rather disturbing pattern has started revealing itself, here…

  13. Not Dick but Richard says:

    Rush was not targeted, he was trying to skirt customs and got caught. Please read the official statement and you will see that was engaging in activity that would get anyone searched. As for the length of time he was detained, that is because the found pills that appeared not to be prescribed to him.

    To me this sounds like normal operating procedure.

    Also this is not over because the case is being referred to Miami-Dade since that’s where the script was from. This may not be an issue for Rush but it sounds like it could be one for his Doctor.

  14. kent says:

    Lord knows rush has never dragged anybodies name thru the mud�turnabout is fair play!!!

    To my knowledge, Rush has never forcibly detained anyone for three hours.