Rep. Kennedy Hooked On OxyContin Before DUI Crash

Hmm... no one seems to be prosecuting this. And yet I'd imagine he's popped OxyContin while in the jurisdiction of the Palm Beach DA that went after Rush Limbaugh.

ep. Patrick Kennedy said Friday he sought treatment for an addiction to the painkiller OxyContin months before wrecking his car outside the U.S. Capitol last year.

The Rhode Island Democrat told NBC-TV's "Today" show that he felt great in his recovery from substance abuse and was determined not to let the disease "take its toll on me ever again."

Kennedy checked into the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota last May after the car crash, saying at the time that he had also been at the clinic the previous Christmas. He said only that he was addicted to "pain medication" and did not name OxyContin.

Kennedy has been open about his struggles with mental illness, including bipolar disorder and addictions to alcohol and other substances. He said it didn't matter what substance he was addicted to.

"Even though I had detoxified from pain medication, one thing you learn as an addict is you can substitute anything for your main addiction," Kennedy said.

Pretty much an implicit admission he was driving while high on the goofballs.

Now, given that an addict needs more of the drug than a single doctor is willing to prescribe -- will anyone be looking into whether or not Kennedy, like Limbaugh, was getting prescriptions from multiple doctors?

posted by Ace at 07:56 PM

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