Rick Snider: Where has the time gone?

Where has the time gone? More importantly, what has been done over the two decades to ensure it won’t happen to anyone else’s child?

The answer greatly depends on whom you ask.

Dr. Lonise Bias will tell you her son’s death was a great wakeup call. That drug use among high schoolers has declined 19 percent in the last four years.

Ernie Graham, a close childhood friend and college teammate of Bias, counters nothing has changed. Sadly, a White House deputy director recently backed Graham when saying drug use is higher today than when Len Bias died. That 4,000 children 12 to 17 years old try illegal drugs for the first time every day.

That’s right — 4,000 kids will try drugs for the first time today. Another 4,000 tomorrow.

It makes me want to weep.

I was fortunate to cover Len Bias at Northwestern High. Saw him block a shot once with his elbow. He was awful during his freshman year at Maryland when no longer able to solely rely on a superior body. Bias worked hard over the summer break and went on to become a two-time ACC Player of the Year and the No. 2 pick in the 1986 NBA draft.

Two days later, Bias was dead.

The shocked and anguished said this would be the drug-related death that made the difference. More than John Belushi or Lenny Bruce. Americans were going to avoid drugs if someone as big and strong as Bias could die on his supposed first use.

As the years passed, I’ve often wondered if Bias has merely become a fading footnote of the drug wars or truly someone whose death has an ongoing impact after all.

There are the Len Bias laws that increase penalties to dealers whose drugs cause a death. The NCAA implemented drug testing shortly after Bias’ death and Maryland tightened control over its athletic programs.

A whole lot of people have told Lonise Bias that her son’s death made them stop using cocaine. And certainly the multitude of drug awareness programs have saved many children and adults.

“I absolutely believe with all my heart that Len’s death has made a difference,” said Lonise Bias, who now works with a White House drug task force and tours nationally to speak of problems facing youth. “I believe that Len’s death helped turn the situation around involving drugs in a positive direction and because of that his death was not in vain.”

Graham wishes he could agree with the optimists. However, the former drug addict fights to remain clean every day. In 1996 he started “Get the Message,” a drug awareness program in Baltimore that has kept countless kids from drugs. Still, Graham says Bias’ death wasn’t enough to scare people away from drugs.

“Drug problems have gotten worse,” Graham said. “[Bias’ death] didn’t change a thing. Maryland only fired a few people and hired a few. Nobody stopped killing or selling or using. That’s just the way it is.”

Lonise Bias doesn’t disagree. Neither do many government statistics. There has been progress, but ask any parent of those 4,000 children that tried drugs today if enough has been done.

“It’s an ongoing battle,” Lonise Bias said. “It’s not like kids have stopped drugs and it will never happen again. We have to continue to fight and battle until all of our young people in generations to come are drug free.”

Violence is too often the offspring of drugs. Like the accused dealer who murdered Len Bias’ younger brother in December 1990 after accusing Jay Bias of flirting with the man’s wife. Jerry Tyler shot Jay Bias in the back twice in the Prince George’s Plaza shopping center. Jay Bias died in the same emergency room where his older brother expired.

Jay and Len Bias are buried beside each other on a hill at Fort Lincoln Cemetery on the District’s Maryland border. Lonise Bias stood by the grave during Jay’s funeral and realized she was atop Len’s resting spot. Drugs indirectly claimed both of her sons.

“We told Jay all the right things to do and it still cost him his life,” Lonise Bias said. “I was thinking why is it two major problems we’re concerned about in this nation I have to be the parent that has to be put out in the forefront, but this is my lot in life.”

Graham recently gained a copy of Len Bias’ obituary, maybe to finally accept what really happened to his childhood friend.

“You wonder why God didn’t take me?” Graham said. “Len had everything in place. I had done a lot of terrible things to myself and to look at him in the casket, you wonder why God makes these decisions.

“It might take me the rest of my life to be with peace with that.”

Rick Snider has covered local sports for 28 years. Contact him at [email protected].