DON'T WRITE OFF THE ADDICT, EXPERTS ADVISE

The fact that actor Robert Downey Jr. can't stay out of trouble should not
surprise his fans.

Substance-abuse experts are far too familiar with the continuing
self-destructive spiral of celebrities, such as Downey and baseball star
Darryl Strawberry, who struggle against addictions.

"Nobody in the field is surprised" when the famous fail yet again, says
Rosalind Brannigan, vice president of Drug Strategies, a non-profit
research institute. An addiction to drugs is "a recurring, relapsing
disease." Stopping is "not unlike trying to diet or quit smoking. You have
many, many attempts before you are successful."

Downey voluntarily went into rehab again after another arrest Tuesday,
capping a five-year saga of legal troubles from drug abuse.

Strawberry, who has battled colon cancer, has attended thousands of hours
of treatment for substance abuse since 1990. His addiction torpedoed a
superstar career.

Relapses are "disheartening, but not so surprising," says Alan Leshner,
director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "What is critical is that
the abuser get back into treatment," which increases the time between relapses.

Deciding that the addict is hopeless and writing him off is a "moral
judgment that will not work," he says. Drug use actually changes the brain
itself, he says, and "makes you compulsive about the drug. It is a myth
that millions quit addictions on their own every year."

Addicts tell themselves they can control their craving, says Craig Nakken,
author of The Addictive Personality. "Then they betray themselves, their
family and their friends. Then there is more pain. And the more pain there
is, the more the need for the chemical."

Leshner says relapses can be triggered by stress; exposure once again to
the "cues" associated with drug use, such as hanging out with drug-abusing
friends; and using any amount of the substance again.

Most experts are not enamored of the term "addictive personality" to
describe the person who stumbles. "There is no such thing in the
traditional sense as an addictive personality" that in turn causes
addiction, Nakken says.

"There is no such thing," agrees Sheila Blume, who heads a committee on
addiction treatment for the American Psychiatric Association. "There are
addictive people. But when you look at them carefully before they got
addicted, they don't share a common personality." Many different types of
people succumb, she says.

Genetics may actually be the biggest cause of addiction, Leshner says. It
may account for 50% to 70% of a person's vulnerability to becoming addicted
after trying a given drug.

LOAD-DATE: April 26, 2001