Drugs

Sharkey died on Friday from complications related to AIDS. We replay an excerpt from a 1988 interview with him.

Lucas was the number one draft pick for the NBA in 1976, before his career went downhill as a result of drug use. He conquered his addiction and started a recovery program for other drug-addicted athletes. He coached the San Antonio Spurs to the playoffs twice, and is now the head coach, general manager, and vice president of the Philadelphia 76ers. Lucas has just written a memoir, called "Winning a Day at a Time."

William Adler is author of, Land of Opportunity: One Family's Quest For The American Dream In The Age of Crack. It tells the story of the Chambers brothers, who moved to Detroit from Mississippi in the mid-80's in search of economic freedom. They found it by setting up the biggest drug business in the city -- complete with quality control, discounts, employee bonuses and a dress code.

Marc Mauer is a co-author for a new study that says there has been a sharp increase over the past five years in the number of African-American males age 20-29 in jail, on probation or on parole. The study finds, on any given day, one in three black men in their 20s is under some form of court supervision. Five years ago, a similar study found that the percentage at one in four blacks. The study is titled Young Black Americans and the Criminal Justice System: Five Years Later. it's two authors are Marc Mauer and Tracy Huling.

Health care analyst and substance abuse expert Joseph Califano. He was LBJ's assistant for domestic affairs from 1959-65 and Secretary for Health, Education and Welfare under Jimmy Carter from 1977-79. Joseph Califano is also president of the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, a research and experimental care facility at Columbia University. (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Senior Editor at National Review, Richard Brookhiser. Recently the conservative magazine has come out in favor of some kind of drug legalization. Brookhiser is also a columnist for The New York Observer. (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Ethan Nadelmann, Director of The Lindesmith Center, a research center devoted to broadening the debate on drug policy, and looking at strategies that have been overlooked or ignored. (The Lindesmith Center is located in New York City, 212-887-0695) (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Earle's new CD is "I Feel Alright" from E-squared/Warner Brothers. He also recently had a song in the movie "Dead Man Walking" called "Ellis Unit One." His new album is called "I Feel Alright." Earle had a past as a drug user and prisoner, but has since turned his life around.

TV Critic David Bianculli previews the new PBS series "Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home". Journalist Bill Moyers takes an unprecedented look at addiction and recovery in America with the five-part series Moyers On Addiction: Close To Home, premiering March 29, 1998, at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS. (Check local listings.)

Criminologist Richard Wright. He teaches at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He'll discuss the statistics released last month by the Justice Department showing that the crime rate has been falling steadily since 1991. He'll also discuss the link between the crime rate and the decline in crack use which he has studied. Wright is the co-author of the book, "Armed Robbers in Action: Stickups and Street Culture" (1997, Northeastern University Press).

He's a longtime correspondent on health and science policy for The New York Times. In his new book, Protecting America's Health: the FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation, he chronicles the history of the Food and Drug Administration from its start during the administration of Teddy Roosevelt. Hilts also broke the now-famous story of the Brown and Williamson tobacco industry papers, and is the author of Smoke Screen: The Truth Behind the Tobacco Industry Cover-Up.

He died Monday at the age of 75. In 1964, his book Last Exit To Brooklyn, shocked readers with its salty language and explicit portrayal of prostitutes, thugs, ex-cons and striking dock workers along the Brooklyn waterfront in the 1950s. Selby's other books included The Room, Requiem for a Dream, The Willow Tree and Waiting Period. (This interview was originally broadcast on May 4, 1990.)

He'll address the strict drug regulations that put Elaine Bartlett, the subject of the book, Life on the Outside, in jail. The regulations are known as the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Clyne is the son of Albany County judge John Clyne, who handed Bartlett a sentence of 20 years to life in state prison.

Journalist Jennifer Gonnerman's new book is Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett. It's an account of Bartlett's struggle to get out and stay out of jail. Bartlett spent 16 years in prison for a single sale of cocaine. Gonnerman follows Bartlett as she is released from prison at 42.

Geriatrician Dr. Christine Cassel says physicians and their patients are still adapting to the federal plan to use Medicare to pay for prescription drugs.

The new Medicare prescription drug plan is complex, confusing, and irrational, according to health policy expert Jonathan Oberlander. A month after the rollout of the new Medicare prescription drug plan, many seniors are finding it difficult to get the drugs they need.

Richard Linklater's new film, A Scanner Darkly, is based on the book by Philip K. Dick -- a haunting tale of drug addiction, paranoia and surveillance set in the America of the near future. Live-action footage is overlaid with an animation technique first used in Linklater's 2001 film Waking Life.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Half Nelson, starring Ryan Gosling. Gosling stars as a young inner-city junior high school teacher who develops a drug habit, and the friendship he strikes up with one of his students.

William Cope Moyers is the son of journalist Bill Moyers. He's written a new memoir about his addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine and his recovery. He's been sober for twelve years and is the vice president for external affairs at the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. His new memoir is Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer William Styron died Wednesday of pneumonia at the age of 81. Styron's books include Lie Down in Darkness, The Confessions of Nat Turner (which won the Pulitzer) and Sophie's Choice, which was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Meryl Streep. His memoir Darkness Visible detailed his struggles with depression and suicidal impulses. This interview originally aired on Sept. 19, 1990.