Pubdate: Sat, 02 Dec 2000
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Section: California Scene
Copyright: 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191
Fax: (619) 293-1440
Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/
Forum: http://www.uniontrib.com/cgi-bin/WebX
Author: Matt Krasnowski
Note: Matt Krasnowski is a reporter for Copley News Service's Los Angeles 
bureau.

ACTOR DOWNEY'S PITIFUL RETURN TO DRUG ABUSE IS HARD TO WATCH

LOS ANGELES -- My whole adult life I've watched Robert Downey Jr.

Maybe that's something I shouldn't state with pride. He's a spoiled brat 
actor and somebody who already receives disproportionately too much 
attention. Nonetheless, call me a fan or call me fascinated. To me, his 
life has been a thing of beauty while being a sorry spectacle at the same 
time -- a new Jaguar in a demolition derby.

The dark side of his life made headlines again last weekend. As almost 
everyone who cares knows, Downey was arrested in a Palm Springs hotel room 
apparently in the midst of a cocaine and methamphetamine binge.

The attractive side of his life, of course, is his art.

His portrayal of Charlie Chaplin saved the sorry biopic of the great 
Hollywood pioneer.

Downey's recent turn as a wisecracking love interest on "Ally McBeal" has 
been the best thing this year about that once relevant, now foundering series.

He ate up the screen in the 1987 movie version of Bret Easton Ellis' novel 
"Less than Zero" as a drug-addled, doomed but beloved rich kid named 
Julian. In Downey's hands, Julian was heartbreaking.

In 1996, Downey-as-Julian metaphors became a regular feature in his 
biography after a Sunday morning arrest on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. 
Black tar heroin, cocaine and an unloaded .357-caliber Magnum were 
passengers in his pickup truck.

His life since then has been a revolving door of relapses, lock-ups, 
high-profile lawyers, confessional interviews and different-colored jail 
jumpsuits. Each time in court it seemed he had a new promise and a new excuse.

A string of violations finally fed up Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira, 
who sentenced Downey to prison last year.

Downey's pals howled that Mira was making a example of the celebrity. 
Prison wasn't what he needed, he needed treatment for an illness, they 
complained.

He got out in August and went into treatment. But last week it appears he 
had to scratch that itch.

Like many, I want Downey to pull through. I want him to be the great 
example for others that you can kick, get on the straight-and-narrow and 
carry on your life. I want him to be a poster boy for drug rehabilitation 
and for the good intentions of Proposition 36, the voter-approved state 
initiative that mandates treatment for drug offenders over incarceration. I 
want him to make more good movies.

But don't look at Downey's life for any lessons on how society treats drug 
offenders.

Downey has had all the treatment available to him that an addict could want 
but he seems to find his way back to drugs. Even the humiliation of a state 
prison term couldn't stop a relapse.

"Less than Zero" was a cautionary tale. Its message wasn't complex: money 
and love are sometimes not enough to save someone in the grip of addiction. 
It's probably the only lesson one can take away from Downey's real-life ordeal.

True, people beat their addictions -- look at Eric Clapton. Some never do 
get totally straight and still manage to survive -- look at the Rolling 
Stones' Keith Richards.

Downey's tale doesn't look like it includes a happy ending. If it weren't 
for that fateful ride down Pacific Coast Highway four years ago and the law 
staying on him, Downey's story may have ended a long time ago.

My whole adult life I've watched Robert Downey Jr. I fear I'll watch his 
death too soon.

Matt Krasnowski is a reporter for Copley News Service's Los Angeles bureau.
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