posted on May 17, 2001 10:28:00 AM new
Preferential treatment? Naw, couldn't be. Are they really helping this guy by putting him in a facility that he can walk away from at any time?
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Strawberry Spared Prison, Ordered to Drug Treatment
By VICKIE CHACHERE
Associated Press Writer
TAMPA
Darryl Strawberry avoided prison Thursday when a judge sentenced him to a drug treatment center for violating his probation during a four-day cocaine binge.
"You are at bat in the bottom of the ninth with two strikes against you," said Circuit Court Judge Florence Foster. "You have proven that you are a winner on the field. Now you must prove that you are a winner off the field."
Foster sent the 39-year-old former New York Yankees slugger to Phoenix House, a residential drug-treatment center without any gates, locks or fences. He must serve two years there, followed by one year of drug offender probation.
The judge also imposed an 18-month suspended prison sentence, meaning Strawberry could be sent to prison if he violated terms of the ruling.
He was credited at least one month for time served in jail and at the hospital, will be subject to random urinalysis tests and be required to provide 100 hours of community service speaking to young people.
Strawberry, wearing a dark buttoned-down shirt, calmly listened to his fate. Earlier, he had asked for leniency.
"This case is not about Darryl Strawberry the baseball player. This is about a person who is very sick," Strawberry said. "I just thank God I'm alive today to be in front of you to deal with the situation."
Strawberry, whose struggles with drug addiction, colon cancer and depression have been played out in a painfully public display, disappeared from a Tampa drug treatment center March 29 for a four-day binge. He resurfaced and checked himself into the psychiatric ward of a Tampa hospital, where he has been since.
Foster last year put Strawberry under house arrest, had him fitted with an ankle monitor and warned him that another relapse would put him behind bars.
Dozens of supporters, including his wife, Charisse, had asked Foster not to send Strawberry to prison. They said Strawberry is a typical addict who is no harm to anyone but himself and will relapse many times before overcoming his addiction.
His doctors told the judge the former outfielder for the Yankees, Mets, Giants and Dodgers is still battling cancer and has mental problems more severe than previously known. Strawberry told the judge earlier this month he wants to continue battling his "demons."
The eight-time All-Star got what he wanted: placement at Phoenix House, a center about 16 miles northeast of Ocala. Two probation officers work there to keep track of offenders.
Prosecutors and Strawberry's probation officer asked that he be sent to prison for 18 months. They said Strawberry's repeated violations of the conditions of his release for a 1999 drug and prostitution solicitation conviction show that Strawberry needs to be behind bars.
"The state's position, at this point in time, is to save Darryl Strawberry's life," prosecutor Darrell Dirks said.
posted on May 17, 2001 12:07:55 PM new
NEW YORK (Reuters) - ``The X-Files (news - Y! TV)'' star David
Duchovny is leaving the show after this season, Fox network's top
executive said on Thursday, after confirming that the show would be
brought back in the fall for its ninth season.
posted on May 17, 2001 09:44:57 PM new
There aren't so many 13 year old teachers that we can afford to have them knocked off right and left, so the penalties for killing one of them should be very high.
posted on May 18, 2001 12:07:05 AM new
I never could figure out what pearls of wisdom these self important spoiled jerks are going to tell the kids for 100 hours. Usually kids have to be sentanced to prison to be exposed to influences this bad. Maybe require him to sign autographes uncompensated for 100 hours? Now that would hurt.
posted on May 18, 2001 12:50:58 PM new
LOL, gravid, I think you're on to something.
mark,
Maybe they're just playing out the clock, hoping he dies soon so they don't have to deal with it anymore. Who wants to be the judge that sentences a famous dying man to prison?
posted on May 18, 2001 04:42:29 PM new
The appropriate facility for a sick individual is not prison. Daryl Strawberry, like any other drug addict deserves and needs medical help, not a prison sentence.
The possible fact that medical help is not available is no excuse to send anybody to jail for illness.
posted on May 18, 2001 06:00:27 PM new
So I guess all those drug addicts who kill people for money to buy drugs, who kill people while crazed by drugs, who sell drugs to support their own habit, should simply be put up in a hospital and forgiven.
I'm all for helping addicts who want help, but not for those who keep taking advantage of people's willingness to help. Put Daryl and Robert Downey Jr. in the same cell.
posted on May 18, 2001 06:30:03 PM new
Alcohol, one of the US-gov't-approved drugs of choice, is involved in far more violence and death than any illegal substance, from what I have read.
I agree with Helen's position on Darryl Strawberry. He's the poster child for tortured souls, and you either feel a sense of compassion for this person and this problem, or you don't. I am very glad the judge gave him this break. Joe Torre seems to feel the same way: "People get impatient with his falling off the wagon," he said. "But I think you have to consider his chemo, which really makes everything else tougher. I guess I am making excuses for him, but unless you have drug problems yourself, you don't know."
posted on May 18, 2001 06:32:07 PM new
You suggest that offending drug addicts need hospitalization, not jail. I was merely illustrating that some drug addicts can be quite dangerous to society, and for that reason your blanket solution of hospitalization, in my opinion, is implausible.
posted on May 18, 2001 06:34:59 PM new
I have had a personal experience with a child on drugs and this
child never hurt a flea. She was never crazed and wild as you infer.
It just doesn't seem appropriate to put an individual in prison or jail
because they are addicted to a drug.
Treatment centers should be better able to handle the problem. Now,
I agree that they are not always effective, but unless a crime is
committed, I can't understand why an addict should be jailed.
posted on May 18, 2001 06:35:56 PM new
People also get impatient when they see the system treating celebrities with kid gloves when they know ordinary people would never enjoy the same level of tolerance. And then seeing the same celebrities spit in the system's face, and still get away with it again.
posted on May 18, 2001 06:38:58 PM new
In my opinion, alcoholics are more dangerous
to society than drug addicts. But even they
should receive medical treatment rather than
jail.
posted on May 18, 2001 06:43:07 PM new
I never said anyone should be jailed for simply being an addict. They should be jailed for breaking the law. Strawberry broke the law. That's what brought him to the attention of the courts, and that's what led to the imposition of penalities.
posted on May 18, 2001 06:46:36 PM new
I understand the resentment that is felt when celebrities have the priviledge and money to afford appropriate treatment and choose not to take advantage of the help.
But nevertheless, they do have a medical problem in which their brain is not functioning normally. It's a medical problem for both rich and poor. Actually, the rich are better enabled to get and use drugs, making the problem even more difficult to treat.
posted on May 18, 2001 06:48:19 PM new
If people want to be alcoholics in the privacy of their own home, there's nothing in society stopping them. It's only when they take their drunkenness public, or when they get behind the wheel of a car, or when they beat their wives or kids, that the law steps in. And well it should.
If a law-abiding alcoholic wants help, yes he or she should receive it. But a drunk driver should face a mandatory jail sentence, IMHO.
posted on May 18, 2001 06:49:27 PM new
I agree that addicts deserve treatment over jail time, for non-violent offenses.
BUT, as long as the law is the way it is, then it needs to be applied fairly, across the board, for all who commit offenses, regardless of one being a celebrity or not.
And this is the sad and unfortunate problem with the treatment of drug abuse.
Medical help should be available to all addicts and alcoholics equally,
but it is not. Poor people cannot afford treatment centers.
Even those with insurance are only able to afford a month in a treatment
center and generally, this is not long enough.
posted on May 18, 2001 08:08:22 PM newEven those with insurance are only able to afford a month in a treatment center and generally, this is not long enough.
It was my experience that it was not. And,
while my daughter was being treated, I saw
many others with the same problem. It's long
enough to detoxify drugs from the system but
the depression and mental problems that go
along with long term drug abuse is not generally cured in a month and sometimes never cured.
posted on May 18, 2001 08:27:36 PM new
Strawberry and Robert Downey Jr. are another
couple of examples in which treatment was
available but neither was cured in one month.
posted on May 18, 2001 08:49:33 PM new
To confirm the length of time necessary to
treat most drug addicts you may find the informatin at the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Studies site...
posted on May 18, 2001 08:57:44 PM new
Helen, you are confusing addiction and the separate mental condition like clinical depression. They are not one and the same, and because one is addicted does not mean that person also suffers from clinical depression and/or some other mental malady. It is true that many addicts are "depressed" due to their addictive behavior and the ill effects that such behavior has on their lives. In addition, many drugs such as alcohol are in themselves depressants. It is also true that many addicts ARE depressed and have learned to "self-medicate" to deal with said depression. But not all addicts are also mentally depressed or psychologically unbalanced. Any substance abuse AND mental health professional will always treat the addictive behavior FIRST. Much of the time the "depression" disappears or is alleviated by this treatment.
It is not my opinion that most drug addicts are well adjusted and psychologically balanced. They are generally depressed
before becoming addicted, depressed during
treatment and depressed after one month of treatment. Complete recovery is not possible with only one month of treatment.
