ACTOR DOWNEY'S PITIFUL RETURN TO DRUG ABUSE IS HARD TO WATCH

LOS ANGELES -- My whole adult life I've watched Robert Downey Jr.

Maybe that's something I shouldn't state with pride. He's a spoiled brat
actor and somebody who already receives disproportionately too much
attention. Nonetheless, call me a fan or call me fascinated. To me, his
life has been a thing of beauty while being a sorry spectacle at the same
time -- a new Jaguar in a demolition derby.

The dark side of his life made headlines again last weekend. As almost
everyone who cares knows, Downey was arrested in a Palm Springs hotel room
apparently in the midst of a cocaine and methamphetamine binge.

The attractive side of his life, of course, is his art.

His portrayal of Charlie Chaplin saved the sorry biopic of the great
Hollywood pioneer.

Downey's recent turn as a wisecracking love interest on "Ally McBeal" has
been the best thing this year about that once relevant, now foundering series.

He ate up the screen in the 1987 movie version of Bret Easton Ellis' novel
"Less than Zero" as a drug-addled, doomed but beloved rich kid named
Julian. In Downey's hands, Julian was heartbreaking.

In 1996, Downey-as-Julian metaphors became a regular feature in his
biography after a Sunday morning arrest on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.
Black tar heroin, cocaine and an unloaded .357-caliber Magnum were
passengers in his pickup truck.

His life since then has been a revolving door of relapses, lock-ups,
high-profile lawyers, confessional interviews and different-colored jail
jumpsuits. Each time in court it seemed he had a new promise and a new excuse.

A string of violations finally fed up Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira,
who sentenced Downey to prison last year.

Downey's pals howled that Mira was making a example of the celebrity.
Prison wasn't what he needed, he needed treatment for an illness, they
complained.

He got out in August and went into treatment. But last week it appears he
had to scratch that itch.

Like many, I want Downey to pull through. I want him to be the great
example for others that you can kick, get on the straight-and-narrow and
carry on your life. I want him to be a poster boy for drug rehabilitation
and for the good intentions of Proposition 36, the voter-approved state
initiative that mandates treatment for drug offenders over incarceration. I
want him to make more good movies.

But don't look at Downey's life for any lessons on how society treats drug
offenders.

Downey has had all the treatment available to him that an addict could want
but he seems to find his way back to drugs. Even the humiliation of a state
prison term couldn't stop a relapse.

"Less than Zero" was a cautionary tale. Its message wasn't complex: money
and love are sometimes not enough to save someone in the grip of addiction.
It's probably the only lesson one can take away from Downey's real-life ordeal.

True, people beat their addictions -- look at Eric Clapton. Some never do
get totally straight and still manage to survive -- look at the Rolling
Stones' Keith Richards.

Downey's tale doesn't look like it includes a happy ending. If it weren't
for that fateful ride down Pacific Coast Highway four years ago and the law
staying on him, Downey's story may have ended a long time ago.

My whole adult life I've watched Robert Downey Jr. I fear I'll watch his
death too soon.

Matt Krasnowski is a reporter for Copley News Service's Los Angeles bureau.