Thread: Limbaugh detained in flap over Viagra

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/200 ... avel_x.htm

Limbaugh case alerts travelers to rules for prescriptions
Updated 6/27/2006 10:20 PM ET
By Kitty Bean Yancey, USA TODAY
Carrying a vial of Viagra without his name on it got talk-show host Rush Limbaugh in hot water with U.S. customs officers Monday.
And his detention at Florida's Palm Beach airport raises questions for U.S. travelers who routinely fly with drugs that they can't show were prescribed to them.

Limbaugh was stopped after flying in from the Dominican Republic on a private jet. In a bag search, customs officers found a bottle of Viagra without his name on it. Limbaugh lawyer Roy Black said in a statement that the erectile-dysfunction drug was "prescribed by Mr. Limbaugh's treating physician but labeled as being issued to the physician rather than Mr. Limbaugh for privacy purposes."

That violated customs rules, says Jennifer Connors, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman. Names on prescription drug bottles must "match the name on the travel document," she says.

Passengers flying domestically don't have to carry a prescription or have a labeled bottle, although the Transportation Security Administration website encourages labeled medications. Spokesman Darrin Kayser says, "Our focus is security; we're not as enforcement-focused as (customs), looking at 'whose drugs are those?' But it's good to have a prescription label, so it's clear."

Meanwhile, travelers often fly without prescriptions or the containers drugs came in.

Jean Mothena, 59, of Aldie, Va., takes seven pills daily (two prescription) and for ease keeps them in a sectioned pillbox. "I don't carry copies of my prescriptions. I've never thought there might be a problem."

Art Van Bodegraven, 66, of Alpharetta, Ga., flies overseas with unmarked pill containers. "I have never been asked about them."

Ditto, says Leonard Dinnerstein, 72, of Tucson. "I always dump them all in a big ol' Ziploc, throw it into the carry-on and go."

Ken Kushnir, 59, of Healdsburg, Calif., recalls being "hassled" when he lacked prescriptions or the bottles they came in. One customs agent "said he could arrest me on the spot," Kushnir says. He didn't.

Limbaugh, 55, went free after being detained. He was not targeted, Connors says: "We go through most people's bags" on private aircraft coming in from overseas.

The case went to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office; its report will go to the state attorney's office. Mike Edmondson, an attorney's office spokesman, says that, generally, if a doctor didn't act fraudulently and a prescription was for the patient, "that wouldn't be a violation of Florida statute."

Two months ago, Limbaugh struck a deal with prosecutors on a charge of fraudulently obtaining painkiller prescriptions. The case was to be dismissed in 18 months if he continued drug treatment and exhibited "model-citizen behavior," he told listeners.

Originally Posted by patbrunz

What are the attractions in the Dominican Republic?

That is the unanswered and unasked question, isn't it?

Limbaugh lawyer Roy Black said in a statement that the erectile-dysfunction drug was "prescribed by Mr. Limbaugh's treating physician but labeled as being issued to the physician rather than Mr. Limbaugh for privacy purposes."

For privacy purposes?

Does this make sense to anybody? What's the big whoop-te-doo here?

Bob Dole went on TV to announce his problems, and you can't watch a golf tournament without seeing big Cialis signs plastered everywhere.

So what is it that makes Limbaugh so special?

Originally Posted by CountFloyd

Originally Posted by patbrunz

What are the attractions in the Dominican Republic?

That is the unanswered and unasked question, isn't it?

I heard a talk show host on the radio say that the Dominican Republic is a known place for sexual tourism. I have no idea if that's true or not. And I certainly hope that's not why he was there.

Originally Posted by patbrunz

Originally Posted by CountFloyd

Originally Posted by patbrunz

What are the attractions in the Dominican Republic?

That is the unanswered and unasked question, isn't it?

I heard a talk show host on the radio say that the Dominican Republic is a known place for sexual tourism. I have no idea if that's true or not. And I certainly hope that's not why he was there.

According to a google search there is some truth to it. Here is a sample from an article I found.



http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,44888,00.html


The Web, Where 'Pimps' Roam Free

By Julia Scheeres Julia Scheeres | Also by this reporter
2001-07-07 03:00:00.0

PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic -- A slow tourist season has hurt the T-shirt and coconut milk vendors in this scenic beach town, but it hasn't put a dent in the body business.

Evidence of the sex trade is everywhere as men in shorts and sandals duck into rent-by-the-hour "love motels" with Dominican women in bright dresses.


"There is always a demand for sex," said one Dominican prostitute as she lounged at one of the town's waterfront bars. "Men will always pay for it, especially in here ... where they can get anything they want at a discount."

Indeed, the Dominican Republic is one of the biggest sex tourism destinations in the world, thanks in part to Internet sites that extol the country as a "single man's paradise."

When Christopher Columbus sailed into the bay here in 1493, the sun's reflection on the ocean made the water dazzle like silver coins, so he called it Port Silver. Nowadays, Puerto Plata still dazzles millions of vacationers looking for turquoise reefs and palm-strewn white sand beaches.

But this sunny vacation mecca has a dark side: The area's thriving commercial sex industry has given it one of the highest HIV rates of any region in the country, according to the World Bank.

The tourism boom didn't hit this island nation until the 1990s, when resorts gobbled up miles of virgin beachfront property. Today, men looking for local action can choose from customized love vacations that include room, board, 20 alcohol drinks a day and the company of one or more local women.

That's hardly specific to the Dominican Republic. Plug "adult travel" into a search engine and you'll find dozens of membership-based sites where men around the world swap information on prostitutes, brothels and the price of oral sex in Brazil or Cuba.

The pricing schemes vary, but the content is the same. It's a war of sex-oriented bragging: Members send in their R-rated travel reports in which they boast about the number of women they've "nailed," including naked photographs of their conquests. They share tips and warnings, such as this post from a tourist who visited Boca Chica, a beachside town in southern Dominican Republic:

"If you go there, beware of a girl named Caroline. Bad, bad news: underage, pregnant and on drugs...."

At TSM, one of the busier destinations, a man describing himself as a retired Canadian steel worker now living in Puerto Plata wrote: "(I) love the Latin lifestyle: one wife and as many girlfriends as you can handle.... I would like to pass on my report on these bars in the Puerto Plata area with photos of my favorite girls that work in them."

Another popular site, the World Sex Archives, advertises discussion boards where "newbies learn from the experienced pros as to where they too can get 18-year-old girls for less than the price of a good steak."

Among banner ads for Viagra, members can shuffle through pictures of dull-eyed prostitutes engaged in flagrante delicto with the members/amateur pornographers.

The site owner, Mark -- who asked that his last name not be used -- said World Sex Archives is successful, although he refused to give exact membership numbers.

"WSA generates sufficient money from the sale of paid subscriptions that it will continue to operate as long as the Internet and the world's oldest profession exist," he said.

The global reach of the Internet has resulted in a tremendous increase in the sex tourism industry, said Donna M. Hughes, a professor of Women's Studies at the University of Rhode Island.

"The Web has broken the industry wide open," Hughes said. "The scope and detail of this exchange is without precedent. These women are viewed as objects and rated on everything from skin color to presence of scars and firmness of their flesh. The guys running these sites are pimps."

In the Dominican Republic, as in many developing countries, many women are driven to sell their bodies by poverty and lack of alternatives. It is a profession that is illegal but tolerated by local authorities, who accept kickbacks to turn a blind eye to the seedier side of tourism.

In Puerto Plata there are so many streetwalkers competing for the attention of vacationers that one hair stylist said she doesn't leave her home after dark because she doesn't want to be mistaken for a puta. In the town's discos, bars and restaurants, solitary women stare suggestively at male tourists or rub up against them like cats.

"I don't have an education, and I've got two children," shrugged 15-year-old Belkis as she slinked along the busy beach promenade here in a hot pink Lycra dress. "Where else can I make such good money? To be a prostitute, you don't need schooling, all you need is your body."

Belkis' rates start at $15 for oral sex, and she charges $5 extra if a man doesn't want to use a condom.

"I don't need any more kids," she giggles, looking for an instant like a child instead of someone who aspires to turn "five to six tricks a night."

Its reputation for cheap and easy sex has given the Caribbean the second-highest AIDS rate in the world after sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Bank, which recently announced plans to devote $150 million to fight HIV/AIDS in the region's islands.

But that sobering statistic hasn't stopped the flesh trade on this sun-sparkled land. In some areas of the Dominican Republic, HIV infection rates among prostitutes top 12 percent, according to local activist groups.

Public health campaigns exhort men to use condoms with prostitutes to protect their families from the disease, which is the primary cause of death among Dominican men under age 45.

But this lesson seems to have been lost on some sexual tourists.

"Do I worry about AIDS/HIV? No," quipped "Joe," a TSM member who described himself as a well-educated tech professional in his late 40s. "Quite frankly, (I) believe that heterosexual AIDS is hard for a man to contract."

Sounds like pretty deplorable conditions there, Brian. I wonder how long it will take for the OBL to turn the USA into a third world cesspool like that? How would you like your daughter or sister to have to exist in such a manner? Isn't that what the elites who want one world government are trying to create? A world where they're kings and we're all just serfs who have to do whatever we can just to survive?

hahahahaha!

how embarrassing for him! he needs viagra. lolololol!

what a dork! can you imagine how he feels? he probably feels 'inadequate'.

hahaha!

For privacy purposes?

I have heard that doctors will sometimes do this for their patients if requested. However, there are certain forms that have to be filed to document that the drug is for that patient's use and do not actually belong to nor used by the person (doctor) named on the label.

I don't know if this is true or not. If it is, then it would determine if Rush violated probation or not.

Still not exactly sure why the media cares who's using Viagra!

Originally Posted by ldydrake

If it is, then it would determine if Rush violated probation or not.

Still not exactly sure why the media cares who's using Viagra!

I think the reason it's getting so much media attention is because Rush is a celebrity and it has to do with his previous issues with prescription drugs. I don't think it has to do with what the drug is, although it is a salacious side note that people find mildly amusing. Also, it is a little bit suspicious that he's coming back from a place known for sexual tourism and he's got a drug to enhance sexual performance.

Originally Posted by ldydrake

Still not exactly sure why the media cares who's using Viagra!

I think the media is using it because it is so damn funny!

That would suck to be a dude and be caught with that! Poor guy....he has been humiliated.