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.