Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jan 2006
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Page: B01
Copyright: 2006 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Authors: Eric M. Weiss and Robert E. Pierre, Washington Post Staff Writers
Note: Staff writers Carol D. Leonnig and Yolanda Woodlee contributed 
to this report.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Marion+Barry
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

NEWS ELICITS SADNESS, NOT SHOCK

Responses Mixed on Barry Drug Test

The news that D.C. Council member Marion Barry failed a court-ordered
drug test in the fall drew sighs, prayers and a call for him to take a
leave from his council seat. But at his old haunts and among his
constituents, what was missing yesterday was a sense of surprise.

For many, this is the fourth decade of the sometimes rocky, sometimes
inspiring marriage between Barry, the former four-term mayor who now
represents Ward 8 on the council, and the residents of his adopted
city. If there was one feeling, it was an amalgam of sadness, empathy
and deja vu.

"I just think it's a damn shame," said Addie Cook, who had been among
the Union Temple Baptist Church members who welcomed him back after he
served six months for cocaine possession following his 1990 arrest at
the Vista Hotel, where he was videotaped smoking crack.

Sources said Barry tested positive for cocaine during routine
screening in connection with his guilty plea to two misdemeanor tax
charges in October.

Yesterday, Barry held a news conference as he was being discharged
from Howard University Hospital but would not discuss the drug test.
During his two-day hospital stay, he was treated for diabetes and
hypertension, said his doctor, Robert H. Williams, who appeared at
Barry's side. The 69-year-old former mayor and civil rights leader is
also a cancer survivor.

When asked whether Barry's condition was affected by the presence of
any illegal drugs, Williams said: "I know nothing about that. I've
told you what we treated him for, and that is a fact. We treated him
for those two conditions and those conditions only."

Barry, wearing a black overcoat and a fedora, looked vibrant. He said
he was in good spirits. "My lawyer has instructed me or anybody else
not to have any comments on anything outside my medical situation,"
Barry said.

Regarding his medical treatment, he said: "I didn't wish these things
on me. I find it very disturbing that a person can't have simple
medical procedures without you all sensationalizing it. People suffer
every day. I empathize with them."

The drug test that Barry failed was required as a part of a
pre-sentencing investigation, said two sources familiar with the case.
Now he is undergoing voluntary drug testing as part of his private
treatment to help establish that he is making an effort to stay drug
free, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the case is
pending.

For many in the city yesterday, their first reaction was to wish Barry
luck in his continuing struggles with drugs.

"If the reports are true, my heart goes out to Marion," Mayor Anthony
A. Williams (D) said in a statement. "I hope he is able to get the
help he needs and to take care of his health."

One Ward 8 leader said that should be a higher priority than his
council work.

"He cannot help people in Ward 8 until he helps himself. That should
be his number one priority," said longtime activist Phillip Pannell,
who suggested Barry take a leave of absence from the D.C. Council. "He
needs to be away from politics, away from the phone and staff, and
deal with his health situation."

Others, however, said Barry has been productive in the last year,
advocating for the city's poorest ward.

"He's in the mix," said Arrington Dixon, a former member of the D.C.
Council who lives and works in Ward 8. "That's what we want him to
be."

But regulars at Players Lounge, one of Barry's favorite haunts, said
the former mayor often drinks there, even though he has admitted to
abusing alcohol in the past.

Barry's tax case involved his failure to pay most of his federal and
D.C. income taxes for six years after his fourth term as mayor ended
in January 1999. Prosecutors said he received more than $530,000 in
income over the six years but did not document most of it.

Richard A. Houck Jr., chief of the U.S. probation office in the
District, said yesterday that he could not discuss specifics of
Barry's case. He said it's clear, however, because of Barry's guilty
plea to tax charges Oct. 28, that the probation office would -- and
did -- conduct a routine pre-sentencing investigation of his situation.

In such investigations, defendants awaiting sentencing are
automatically screened for seven drugs, including marijuana and
cocaine, according to the office's protocol, and defendants generally
are asked to submit to the testing immediately or shortly after their
first court appearance.

"Mr. Barry was not singled out," Houck said. "This is our routine . .
. . The whole pre-sentence process is about us determining the
circumstances of an individual -- their past, their present."

Cocaine typically remains in a person's urine and can be detected in
standard drug tests for 48 to 72 hours after use, according to
screening experts. If a defendant fails a drug test, the probation
office's pre-sentencing report will include that information. The
report is confidentially shared with the judge and lawyers several
weeks before the sentencing hearing. But the probation office does not
typically request additional tests.

"In this kind of case, we are not supervising an individual," he said.
"We are investigating him."

In Barry's case, prosecutors could choose to scrap a plea agreement on
the tax charges because a failed drug test could be viewed as a breach
of the agreement. But unless there's a pattern of continuing drug use,
it is unusual in such cases for prosecutors to do so.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson has discretion in deciding
whether Barry's infraction merits jail time or other sanctions at
sentencing. Houck said some defendants who have failed a drug test
were ordered to undergo drug treatment and prove their progress
through subsequent testing. If the drug use continued, some have faced
additional jail time or more restrictions.

Many of Barry's Ward 8 constituents said the latest revelation about
drug use sent the wrong message to young people whom he has long championed.

Hannah Hawkins, who runs the Children of Mine after-school program,
said she addressed some teenagers in her program who suggested that
the former mayor might have been set up.

"He knew what he was doing was wrong," she said she told them. "He let
the youth down. Very few people, especially in Ward 8, have been loved
and respected by our youth as much as he has."

The few council colleagues who agreed to talk about Barry's situation
used the vocabulary of addiction and recovery.

"If it's true, I look at it as a message for those who are struggling
with their own demons and have spouses or loved ones in the same
situation," said council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who has had his
own struggles with drinking. He said that Jan. 30 will mark his 29th
year of being sober.

"Even after many, many relapses, the fact that he is in treatment is a
good thing," Graham said. "I'm not making excuses for him. He will be
judged by others."

If Barry is incarcerated, he would not have to give up his council
seat and could even introduce legislation from his jail cell, but he
could not cast council votes, according to D.C. Council rules.

Barry would have to relinquish his council seat only if convicted of a
felony, said Charlotte Brookins-Hudson, the council's general counsel.
Barry pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor tax charge.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake