Bias death raises questions of fellow athletes' drug use

A grand jury investigation into the death of University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias likely will widen to include allegations of drug use among athletes on the campus, said Arthur M. Marshall Jr., a state prosecutor. Mr. Marshall said Sunday that he expects basketball coach Lefty Driesell and players Terry Long and David Gregg to be among those questioned by the grand jury today. Police are still looking for Brian Tribble, a longtime friend of Mr. Bias, and another unidentified man, who were with the player in the hours before died in his dorm room Thursday, just two days after he was selected by the champion Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association.

Dr. John Rogers, deputy medical examiner for Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, has said that a trace of a drug found in Bias's urine could be either cocaine or lidocaine administered to revive Bias's heart.

Friends and relatives said Bias had not used drugs. But campus police Friday searched Bias's leased car and found a small packet of white powder. Prince George's County police have sent the substance to the state police crime laboratory.

If evidence shows that Bias had used cocaine in the hours before he died, criminal charges could be filed against the people who supplied the drug, Marshall said.