Pubdate: Mon, 05 Feb 2001
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Los Angeles Times
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Author: Dave Michon

REGARDING "'TRAFFIC' SCREENWRITER'S SENTIMENT IS MISPLACED"

Dr. Herbert D. Kleber's response to "Traffic" screenwriter Stephen 
Gaghan's contention that [former drug czar] William Bennett 
contributed to his friend Rob Bingham's death from heroin is specious 
(" 'Traffic' Screenwriter's Sentiment Is Misplaced," Jan. 29).

Kleber would have us believe that the Bennett-Reagan years were an 
Enlightened Age in the area of drug policy. On the contrary, the 
Bennett watch saw the emergence of "zero tolerance," the most 
misanthropic public policy since the Inquisition. Nice try, Dr. 
Kleber, but those of us whose lives were destroyed, not by drugs, but 
by your administration's knee-jerk response to them, know better. You 
should leave "spin" and "legacy management" to the experts, like 
Bennett himself.

Dave Michon
Eau Claire, Wis.
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