Pubdate: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL) Copyright: 2000 St. Petersburg Times Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/ Forum: http://www.sptimes.com/Interact.html Author: Susan Aschoff, Times Staff Writer Darryl Strawberry's other stats New York Yankee Darryl Strawberry was suspended last week from Major League Baseball for one year after testing positive for cocaine. The suspension is his third in five years due to drug use. Talk at the water cooler found few sympathetic voices: "It's about time," said many of baseball's disillusioned fans. Strawberry is still on probation after pleading no contest to cocaine possession after an arrest last year in Tampa. His inability to shake drugs despite the best help money can buy gives us reason to consider the vice grip of addiction: Age group with highest rate of cocaine use: 18- to 25-year-olds Age at which Strawberry first went to rehab center: 28 * Number of Americans last year who used cocaine for the first time: 730,000 Number of Americans who use cocaine now: 1.8-million As percentage of population: Less than 1 As percentage of population during peak use in 1985: 3 * Men who relapse within six months after hospitalization for cocaine addiction: 75 percent Women who relapse within six months after hospitalization for cocaine addiction: 50 percent * Number of times a cocaine high is likely to exceed the rush felt the first time: 0 Number of minutes a cocaine high lasts: 5 to 20 * Number of days Strawberry suspended by league due to third drug violation: 365 Number of days Pinellas County student expelled by school after third drug violation: 90 to 180 Number of years drug use nationally has declined or stayed the same for eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders: 3 * Percentage of young people in 1996 who named a sports figure as their role model: 12 Percentage of young people last year who named a sports figure as their role model: 9 * Of 1,000 people tested in a week by the four-county Operation PAR toxicology laboratory, number that will test positive for drugs: 200 Of the 200, number that will test positive for cocaine: 50 Number that tested positive for cocaine Tuesday, a day after Darryl Strawberry was suspended for testing positive: 10 Percentage of eighth-graders (13- and 14-year-olds) reporting crack use at least once in their lives: 3.2 Percentage of high school seniors reporting cocaine use in the past month: 2 * Amount the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services budgeted for fiscal year 1999 on youth-focused anti-drug efforts: $441-million Amount of payroll for the New York Yankees' 2000 season: $93-million Amount Southside Boys & Girls Club in St. Petersburg hoped to raise with Strawberry as the (since replaced) host of a March fund-raiser: $25,000 * Annual salary for Strawberry with Los Angeles Dodgers in 1990: $4-million Annual salary for Strawberry with New York Yankees in 2000, after three cocaine suspensions and other legal difficulties: $750,000 Annual salary (average) for major leaguers in 2000 with the same seniority: $2-million * Percentage of all employees who use drugs: 12 Percentage that insurance coverage for treating drug abuse has been reduced over the past 10 years: 74.5 * Percentage of drug users who hold full-time jobs: 70 Percentage of time in an average game that designated hitter Strawberry plays: 8 * NOTE: Statistics are most recent available and pulled from figures for the past three calendar years. Sources: American Society of Addiction Medicine; National Institute on Drug Abuse; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Operation PAR; Office of National Drug Control Policy; National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information; the Zandl Group trends research firm; Institute for a Drug-Free Workplace; Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.; St. Petersburg Times. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea