Drub Abuse

New Jersey Nets forward Orlando Woolridge, who said earlier, "It's not normal for guys to just disappear," will be out of sight indefinitely, it was determined Tuesday. Woolridge was suspended by the National Basketball Assn. after admitting that he had a drug problem and will enter a rehabilitation program at Van Nuys Community Hospital, Gary Bettman, vice president and general counsel of the league, said.

The driver of a charter bus that crashed near Palm Desert last week has admitted to using cocaine the day of the accident that injured 30 Orange County youths and chaperons headed to a church retreat, the president of the charter company and law enforcement officials said Tuesday. The driver, James A. Miller III, 35, of Wilmington was fired Tuesday by Transit Contractors, based in Long Beach.

Late in 1986, stock car driver Tim Richmond was hospitalized for pneumonia. But, as he soon discovered, that was secondary to a more serious illness: He was diagnosed with AIDS, the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Richmond, 31 at the time, did not want to quit racing. And he did not. He was named NASCAR's driver of the year for 1986, and planned to continue driving for as long as his strength would last. But it was not AIDS that knocked him out of racing.

A University of California, Berkeley, housing board has kicked 182 students out of a student housing co-op in the largest campus eviction in the 50 years since the co-ops were formed. The eviction of the residents of Berkeley's Barrington Hall, plagued by reports of noisy goings-on and drug use, was approved by the 30-student housing board after more than four hours of debate.

The driver of a charter bus that crashed near Palm Desert last week has admitted to using cocaine the day of the accident that injured 30 Orange County youths and chaperons headed to a church retreat, the president of the charter company and law enforcement officials said Tuesday. The driver, James A. Miller III, 35, of Wilmington was fired Tuesday by Transit Contractors, based in Long Beach.

Late in 1986, stock car driver Tim Richmond was hospitalized for pneumonia. But, as he soon discovered, that was secondary to a more serious illness: He was diagnosed with AIDS, the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Richmond, 31 at the time, did not want to quit racing. And he did not. He was named NASCAR's driver of the year for 1986, and planned to continue driving for as long as his strength would last. But it was not AIDS that knocked him out of racing.

The Times is to be commended for the outstanding articles on Latin America's cocaine industry (Dec. 1-4). These articles should be required reading for everyone in the United States. Times' reporters graphically portray this growth industry for what it is--a tragedy from beginning to end. It starts with the pathetic Peruvian farmer who sees coca as a highly profitable crop, in great demand and as a way out of his grinding poverty. He does not understand why his own government, prompted by the United States, wants to destroy his crop and dash his hopes for a brighter future.

New Jersey Nets forward Orlando Woolridge, who said earlier, "It's not normal for guys to just disappear," will be out of sight indefinitely, it was determined Tuesday. Woolridge was suspended by the National Basketball Assn. after admitting that he had a drug problem and will enter a rehabilitation program at Van Nuys Community Hospital, Gary Bettman, vice president and general counsel of the league, said.

A University of California, Berkeley, housing board has kicked 182 students out of a student housing co-op in the largest campus eviction in the 50 years since the co-ops were formed. The eviction of the residents of Berkeley's Barrington Hall, plagued by reports of noisy goings-on and drug use, was approved by the 30-student housing board after more than four hours of debate.