
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 15, 1990                   TAG: 9004150116
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

BARRY ADMITS COUNSELING ABSENCES

District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry said Saturday that he has not adhered to the strict regimen of counseling sessions and other meetings that experts say are critical to his recovery from alcohol and substance abuse.

In an interview, Barry also said that until last week he mistakenly believed that he could substitute attendance at church services for the counseling sessions and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. The mayor added he would no longer do that.

Since returning to the District last month after seven weeks of addiction treatment in Florida and South Carolina, Barry has told audiences that he was diligently pursuing recovery by attending Next Step counseling sessions, which are held three times a week, and the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings he was supposed to attend on other days.

However, Barry said Saturday that he has missed a number of those sessions and meetings. The absences were revealed in a Washington Post review of his activities from April 5 to last Thursday.

The mayor said that while he did "regret" missing the meetings, he did not intend to let those absences interfere with his recovery.

Barry said he was told by his recovery counselor that church attendance was not a substitute for meetings and counseling sessions in his recovery plan.

"I was told last week - I didn't know this - I thought going to church was a substitute. That's not."

"There's no excuse for missing those meetings," said Adrian Cohen, who operates a private group practice treating both alcohol and drug addiction. He is responsible for admitting people to facilities such as the Psychiatric Institute, whose Next Step program Barry is scheduled to attend three nights a week for two hours at a time.

"Right now, every [meeting] he misses is a function or denial of the illness," Cohen said.

Barry, 54, was arrested Jan. 18 in an FBI sting operation and charged with one misdemeanor charge of cocaine possession. In February, a grand jury indicted him on felony charges of lying to a grand jury and misdemeanor charges of cocaine possession. He faces a June 4 trial.

The mayor also said in the interview that he has not had a drink in 84 days.

by CNB