Pubdate: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company Contact: 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 Fax: (212) 556-3622 Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/ Author: Rick Nusblatt Note: The writer is a project administrator at the Lindesmith Center, a drug policy group. Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n257/a06.html THE FACE OF DRUG USE To the Editor: Ever since the news of Darryl Strawberry's suspension from baseball because of drug use, I've been touched by the pleas for compassion among his fans, teammates, Yankee management and New Yorkers everywhere (editorial, March 1). What bothers me is that when you substitute Strawberry for the faceless drug user, the public becomes far less forgiving. When the addict is seen as a real person, only then does compassion enter into the equation. This is how it should be. For Strawberry, and for the hundreds of thousands incarcerated for drug use, many serving terms for the exact offense as Strawberry's, we need to see drug addiction as a health issue and not as a criminal issue. Rick Nusblatt, New York, March 2, 2000 The writer is a project administrator at the Lindesmith Center, a drug policy group. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D