Revolving-door rehab Lindsay Lohan playing Russian roulette with life.

Byline: The Register-Guard

It's too bad that legitimate substance abuse rehabilitation programs don't have the option of sending celebrities somewhere else until they are serious about dealing with their addictions.

The damage done to these life-saving treatment centers when high-profile celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears repeatedly check in, check out, relapse and check in again is hard to measure. Anyone who has begged a family member or friend to seek treatment for alcohol or drug dependency knows the addict will seize any excuse to avoid confronting the problem. "Didn't do much for Lindsay" is all it will take for a lot of sick people to keep drinking and using drugs - and driving - until they kill or seriously injure themselves or someone else.

Or until they lose their jobs, or physically abuse their spouses or children, or irreparably damage their developing fetuses, or spiral deeper into depression, or try to commit suicide, or succeed.

Lohan is back in a substance abuse rehabilitation program for the third time following a second drunken-driving arrest just 36 hours after she checked out of her second stint in rehab. Spears twice spent less than a day in rehab before entering a third time for a month. Actor Robert Downey Jr. went through rehab four times and actor Daniel Baldwin has checked into treatment centers nine times.

The 21-year-old Lohan has been particularly unconvincing in her approach to sobriety, apparently because she hasn't come to terms with how much she stands to lose if she doesn't stop abusing alcohol and drugs. She's a promising actress, but she has nowhere near the resume or acclaim of the actor to whom she is now most often compared (though not with regard to acting ability): Robert Downey Jr.

The Oscar-nominated Downey's breakthrough came in the 1992 film "Chaplin." But cocaine addiction and multiple failed rehab efforts ultimately made him virtually unemployable. Downey couldn't even get an insurance bond because of his history of self-destructive behavior, and Hollywood studios weren't willing to risk casting him in a big-budget part.

After five years of sobriety and almost a dozen second-tier roles in films like "The Singing Detective" and "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," Downey has worked his way back to a major role in this year's "Zodiac." He plays Paul Avery, a newspaper crime reporter covering the Zodiac serial killer who terrorized San Francisco in the 1970s.

Critics have seen potential in Lohan's performances, but police this week found cocaine in the pocket of her jeans and alcohol in her bloodstream. Coke and booze can annihilate potential in a heartbeat. Just ask the honor roll of gigantic talents whose careers were cut short due to alcohol and drug abuse.

Lohan should spend some time reflecting on this list during her current stay in rehab, and if she really studies it, maybe this will be her last trip to treatment:

Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, drug overdose; John Belushi, actor and comedian, heroin and cocaine overdose; Keith Moon, drummer for the Who, overdosed on anti-seizure medication prescribed for alcoholism; Jimi Hendrix, guitar virtuoso, respiratory arrest caused by alcohol and barbiturate overdose and vomit inhalation; Janis Joplin, rock 'n' roll and blues singer, heroin overdose; Chris Penn, actor, heart disease aggravated by prescription drug abuse; River Phoenix, actor, overdose of heroin and cocaine; Chris Farley, comedian and actor, cocaine and heroin overdose; Elvis Presley, singer and actor, heart attack brought on by overdose of barbiturates; Jackson Pollock, American painter, killed in a single-car accident while driving drunk; Jack Kerouac, writer/poet, alcoholism.

Any questions, Lindsay?