Editorial writer Jac Wilder VerSteeg of the Palm Beach Post cuts Rush no slack:

...it is not the case that Mr. Limbaugh, who has not been charged, would be the first to face prosecution for doctor-shopping. Nor would he be the last. But in Florida and elsewhere, it is likely that the people who face prosecution won't be able to afford defense lawyers of Roy Black's caliber. Under the provisions of Senate Bill 1064, the state would pay much closer attention to Medicaid patients' prescriptions. Medicaid patients who lied to get drugs would be denied benefits. The bill also would make it easier to discipline doctors who fraudulently prescribe drugs to Medicaid patients. Patients who sell fraudulently obtained OxyContin and other prescription drugs on the black market would be guilty of a felony.

Mr. Limbaugh, who has admitted his own addiction, seems to favor leniency for people addicted to prescription medications.....The compassion is new. What would Rush Limbaugh, before confessing to his own addiction, have said about Medicaid patients guilty of doctor-shopping for OxyContin? Mr. Black points out that hypocrisy is not a crime. He said he doubts that Florida would jail Medicaid patients who go doctor-shopping solely to feed an addiction to prescription pills. I think he's wrong about that last part. Perhaps Mr. Limbaugh should get a pass because Medicaid patients are ripping off taxpayers while Rush, even if he was doctor-shopping, spent only his own money. Regardless of who pays, though, doctor-shopping is a crime....If the state is determined to crack down on Medicaid recipients suspected of doctor-shopping, it is only fair to crack down on everyone suspected of doctor-shopping. Mr. Limbaugh's public-relations defense is "poor me." In that case, prosecutors should treat him the same as the state intends for them to treat the poor.

Two wrongs don't make a right. We don't think the state should go after anyone who takes pills for pain, whether they doctor shop or not. We think doctors must be free to prescribe whatever amount it takes to alleviate their patients' pain. Ashcroft is wrong to go after doctors; Florida is wrong to go after Medicaid recipients; and Florida is wrong to go after Rush, hypocrite or not.