WAR ON DRUGS SHOULD START IN HOLLYWOOD

I was pleased that the Sun-Times took notice of actor Robert Downey Jr.'s
drug arrest with a news story and the commentary of Richard Roeper [column,
Nov. 27]. However, I think this is an opportune time to join my call for a
real war on drugs that includes Hollywood.

If the court and justice system really worked, Downey should be treated
like any other habitual criminal instead of getting lamentations about the
damage that his backsliding is doing to his career. He should be subject to
the federal mandatory minimum sentence of five years for drug possession.
If Downey were not a celebrity, he would have been drug-tested every week
after he was released, and maybe his return to drugs would have been
discovered earlier. After failing drug tests, people like Ike Turner, David
Ruffin and Billy Preston got serious jail time. I'll bet that despite this
new arrest, Downey will get another slap on the wrist because, like many
other celebrities, he doesn't have the time to do the time. "Frasier" star
Kelsey Grammer served only 11 days of his 30-day sentence.

The Sun-Times coverage could have spotlighted the hypocrisy of the war on
drugs. People in Hollywood get a pass, and urban residents get tall time
from unsympathetic prosecutors, judges and the public at large.

If we are serious about stamping out illegal drug use in this country, we
should stop exhibiting a fascination for tabloid TV, newspaper and magazine
stories about actors and singers recounting their life on drugs and
spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on cocaine and heroin to
jump-start a stalled or dead career. Where are the authorities? Why aren't
they trying to find out where they got their hands on that much illegal
drugs? Lauren Tewes of "Love Boat" said she snorted up $6 million in
cocaine. Yet no one asked her where she got it. Carroll O'Connor, star of
"All in The Family," showed us how it can be done.

When his son Hugh committed suicide by overdosing, O'Connor named his
supplier and called on the police to arrest him. They did, and he was
charged. Later, the dealer had the nerve to sue O'Connor for slander. He
lost! That's the lesson we should learn from O'Connor's courage if we truly
want to wage a war on drugs.

Ald. Carrie M. Austin (34th)