Drugs and Death

Drugs are so commonplace in American society, cynics say, that there is almost nothing that we can do to stop people from abusing substances like cocaine. Perhaps. But the sudden death of two gifted young athletes within days of each other, both after using cocaine, should make us all less tolerant toward drugs and people who use them.

There was terrible poignancy in the deaths of University of Maryland basketball player Len Bias and Cleveland Browns football star Don Rogers. Bias succumbed after using cocaine at a party celebrating his being selected, in the professional basketball draft, to play for the world-champion Boston Celtics. Rogers, a native of Sacramento and a former football star at UCLA, died a day before his wedding after apparently having used cocaine at a bachelor party.

What should be even more sobering than the tragic circumstances of their deaths is the fact that both Bias and Rogers were in the prime of life and in top physical condition. Yet both almost literally keeled over hours after ingesting cocaine. If nothing else, enlightened self-interest should now lead the labor unions that represent professional athletes to rethink their position on mandatory drug-testing. Some have tried to use it as a bargaining chip in contract talks with management, but the problem is too serious for such cavalier treatment. Unless the unions voluntarily do more to prevent drug abuse by athletes, as the professional tennis players’ association does, they may find mandatory drug-testing imposed on them.

The two deaths should also remind us to appreciate the athletes who already give time to campaigns against drug and alcohol abuse. Some, like Dodger pitcher Bob Welch, speak from sad personal experience about the dangers of alcohol. Others, like the Rams’ Eric Dickerson and the Raiders’ Dokie Williams, lend their names to anti-drug campaigns because they know that young people see them as role models. They could use more help from efforts like Pros for Kids, the state Department of Education’s new pilot program that begins operation this week. A statewide effort, it should provide the coordination necessary to make sure that every schoolchild in California is, at one time or another, warned against the dangers of drug abuse by an admired public figure.

In the meantime, the deaths of Bias and Rogers should jolt others tempted to use cocaine into realizing that no matter how strong you are, coke is stronger. If simple fear persuades even a few people to stop using cocaine, then two promising lives will not have ended utterly in vain.