Recovery A Constant Challenge For Barry

D.C. police were first tipped off to Barry's alleged cocaine use in 1981. Their suspicions were confirmed in January 1990, when the FBI videotaped the mayor smoking a crack pipe and fondling a former model named Rasheeda Moore in the Vista Hotel (now known as the Wyndham Hotel).

Four days later, Barry entered drug rehab for the first time, checking into the Hanley-Hazelden Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. He continued to serve as mayor, however, and conduct city business, and he complained that a media stakeout was violating his privacy. He moved to a more secluded South Carolina facility, where he stayed until March 13, his longest publicly acknowledged period of residential drug treatment.

Barry was sentenced to six months in prison for cocaine possession, a misdemeanor. He was released in April 1992 and immediately started running for the D.C. Council. Two years later, he waged a successful campaign for mayor on a platform of personal and political redemption.

His first year back in the mayor's office was a disaster: The city was insolvent. A congressionally-appointed control board took over. And Barry found out he had prostate cancer. Meanwhile, "Barry started being seen at places that concerned his supporters," Newman said.

Barry denied using drugs, but Newman and others didn't believe him. Newman told Barry that he would publicly call for his resignation unless he sought help.

In April 1996, Barry announced that his behavior was showing "the telltale signs of spiritual relapse and physical exhaustion" and left for private retreats in rural Maryland and St. Louis.

Newman found Barry's comments less than candid, and he told reporters at the time that Barry had not halted "the maddening process toward relapse and personal destruction." When Barry returned from St. Louis, Newman told Cora Masters Barry that he could no longer act as an ally.

"Part of what angered me was that kind of perpetual con," Newman said. "You couldn't have personal integrity and stay on that train. This is a train wreck."

Barry finally left the mayor's office in 1999. He stayed mostly in the background, working as a consultant, until 2004, when he decided to challenge Ward 8 council member Sandy Allen. Barry looked gaunt and frail -- his complexion was ashen -- and rumors of drug use quickly resurfaced. Barry said doctors had him on the wrong diabetes medication. Still, longtime supporters shied away, including Wilson, who endorsed Allen.

"People who had supported him in the past just weren't there. He couldn't find a treasurer," said Dion Jordan, who served briefly as Barry's campaign manager. "I was like 'Wow -- Where are the people?' " Radio talk show host Joe Madison was one of the few prominent figures at Barry's kickoff. Madison said that he thought Barry was the best candidate and that Barry had assured him his drug days were behind him.

Last week, when Madison heard that Barry had tested positive for cocaine, he said he felt as though he'd "been kicked in the stomach."

Some people are ready to rally around Barry and blame his latest troubles on the criminal justice system. As Barry left the hospital last week and climbed into an aide's Jaguar, Howard Jackson, a self-described ex-pimp, was among a small group of admirers whooping and hollering.

"He didn't fail that drug test. They planted it on him," he insisted.

Callers to Madison's radio show have expressed similar support for Barry. "We have to continue loving Marion Barry," one said.

But Madison is not so sure. "We might be loving him to death," he said.

Staff writer Hamil R. Harris and researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.