WEBB CALL ON DRUG USE ILL-CONCEIVED

Mar. 7 - The person who has never used cocaine is superior to the one who
has. That's what Mayor Wellington Webb implied when he decreed that no one
who has ever used cocaine can become a Denver police officer.

Webb is wrong. Many recovering addicts would be far preferable police
candidates than those who have yet to try the sordid white substance. Most
recovering addicts have had to scrutinize, combat and negate their own
dishonesty, eradicate their enabling rationalizations and come to terms
with the challenges - and rewards - of a clean and sober life. They are
living the examined life, unlike the numbed masses of humanity operating on
automatic pilot.

The mayor's intentions are good. He's trying to counteract the controversy
that arose when Ellis "Max" Johnson II was hired as a cop.

Johnson readily admitted he had quit using cocaine 13 years earlier. He
told the truth, and that alone is a point in his favor. (Ellis also
admitted to stealing from employers and slapping and shoving two women -
far more frightening peeks into his past than a long-gone cocaine habit.)

So why did Webb hand down such a strong edict about cocaine? Because the
drug is "so addictive," said the mayor, who has seen the ravages of cocaine
within his own family.

He's right about that. Cocaine - snorted, smoked or injected - is powerful
stuff. The habit becomes so intense over time that recovery seems impossible.

But recover people do - through treatment, 12-step programs, psychiatric
help or white-knuckle determination.

Most anyone who does recover, and who sticks with sobriety for five years
or more, finds straight life so enjoyable that he would rather slice his
jugular vein than return to that hideous lifestyle.

Cocaine addicts are a lot like alcoholics. For while alcohol may be legal,
it can provide every bit as compelling an addiction as cocaine or any other
drug.

Denver isn't banning police recruits who ever took a drink, though drunks
can be as nasty as cokeheads.

Like the recovering addict, however, the alcoholic with long-time sobriety
also is loath to return to the poison of yesteryear.

Most of us have known alcoholics who sobered up and went on to achieve
great things.

My life has been enriched by the personal victories of several recovering
cocaine addicts.

Trish (not her real name) beat her addiction in a 12-step program and went
on to reach such excellence as an editor that she works for one of
America's richest men. More important, she has achieved happiness she never
knew was possible and soon will marry the man she loves.

Jane (another pseudonym) conquered addictions to cocaine, heroin and
alcohol. She is an excellent, nurturing single mother, a top-notch
saleswoman and a true adventuress who snowmobiles, snowshoes and scuba
dives with relish.

Susie runs marathons. She doesn't judge people who drink, smoke marijuana
or ingest other drugs, but she hasn't done those things in more than 20
years and never will again.

That's the irony with people who have achieved long-time recovery. You can
damned near bet your bottom dollar they won't relapse, not after the long
taste of bliss they've enjoyed.

By contrast, all those fresh-faced new cops are every bit as vulnerable to
alcoholism and drug addiction as people in recovery once were.

They're not as invincible as Webb would like to believe.

The best Denver police policy on drugs would be to require at least five
years of sobriety. All aspiring cadets should be advised that any lapse
whatsoever - into drugs or drunkenness - will result in immediate suspension.

The mayor deserves support for finally vowing to clean up Denver's troubled
police department. But his decision to eradicate an entire segment of
humanity from the force is ill-conceived and bigoted. Denver's police won't
be improved by barring the very people we can best depend on for a clean,
sober performance.