Fallen Hero’s Fix: Sorry Addict or Responsibility Dodger?

For those of us who study baseball and real life with equal interest, Darryl Strawberry is always good for a seminar topic or two. Somehow or other, the Straw man finds a way to suck us into a conversation.

Lately, of course, it’s the announcement that the Los Angeles Dodger outfielder is heading for drug rehab--this thrust upon us right before Opening Day and after a spring in which all his tulips were supposedly blooming and when, according to his own words, he had finally found “peace.”

Once again, we have to decide whether we A) will never believe another word he says, B) feel sorry for him or C) just don’t care anymore.

Much of the equation for Strawberry and other drug dependents, I would suggest, is how much responsibility we feel they bear for their problems. In search of expert clinical guidance, I went to Alan Shein, medical director of the Chemical Dependency Center at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach.

“People who work in the field of chemical dependency typically don’t view addiction as a matter of someone not having willpower,” he said. “It’s much more complicated than that.”

While noting that there is a “disease model” that covers many addicts, Shein said he views ongoing drug users as people who “are not receiving the necessary support they need in order to stay away from alcohol or drugs.”

What about their free will to do so themselves? “That has to do with motivation, not lack of willpower,” Shein said. “Motivation is key. If someone is not motivated to remain abstinent, if they’re not willing to put some effort into a recovery program . . . it’s a whole slew of things that someone needs to do to change their lives so they remain abstinent.”

But doesn’t that take it out of a “disease” mode? “When you put it in terms of a disease that you can’t help, I think a person chooses not to help themself,” Shein said. “I don’t believe that with many people--once they’ve been exposed to a recovery program--that it is an acceptable reason if they can come in to me and say, ‘There is no way I can do anything but use drugs, this is inevitable.’ That may be the case once they’ve started using the drugs, especially with certain drugs. Once you have started using them on a daily basis, your body becomes physiologically dependent on the drug and you have to continue to use the drug to avoid really significant withdrawal symptoms.”

Should we feel sorry for Strawberry? “I honestly don’t know how I felt when I heard the whole thing,” Shein said. “Part of me said, give this guy a chance. We have people who go through a first treatment for the wrong reason and they’re really not at that point motivated, but maybe at a later point in life, they have lost enough and hurt enough to where they say, ‘You know what, that first time I went through, I really didn’t feel this was what I needed to do, but I’m hurting so bad now, and I let all those people down, and I’m at a point now where I’m willing to quote unquote surrender and do whatever you tell me.’ ”

Shein said he hopes Strawberry is at that point. When Strawberry first went to rehab in 1990, Shein said, “he probably hadn’t lost enough and felt enough consequences from his addiction. Maybe everything really did fall apart last Sunday when he didn’t show up for that game. Maybe he did reach emotional bottom where he said, ‘Wow, this really has taken over my life,’ and there was finally that recognition.”

I suggested we were getting back to personal responsibility. “It’s a very complicated illness, is the way I look at it,” Shein said. “It’s not a straightforward thing like you suddenly find out you have cancer and there’s nothing you can do about it. There is a personal responsibility involved. Many times with addictions, people are not willing to be personally responsible.”

Lots of people have strong negative feelings toward Strawberry. “I think there’s a lot of jealousy,” Shein said. “He’s famous, he’s paid enormous sums of money, and people have disdain for baseball players in the first place, right now. People are struggling to even own a home or a car and these guys are making a fortune. I think there’s a lot of anger at that and this is a great way to focus that anger at one player who is standing out from the rest. You know what, I’d feel more sorry for him if he were a guy working in a factory and he lost his job. Then you’d say, ‘That poor guy.’ It’s hard to say ‘that poor guy’ to a guy who the day before hit a 500-foot home run and is getting paid $4 million a year.”

Despite Strawberry’s seeming indifference, Shein said it’s possible he’s genuinely tormented. “Chemically dependent people set themselves up a lot of times for goals where they can beat up on themselves. Maybe he set some really high standards for himself this spring. Maybe he genuinely wanted to do well and at the same time was struggling with addiction. It could have been a really horrible time for him.”

Many people wish Strawberry would simply disappear from the local sports scene. The Dodgers still must decide whether they’re dealing with a sick man or someone who simply makes them sick.

In a way, that’s the dilemma Darryl Strawberry poses for all of us.

“I wonder what’s going on inside” his head, Shein said. “I bet he’s hurting pretty bad.”

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.