RAVES, ROMANCE FOR 'TRAFFIC' OFFICER BENICIO DEL TORO

Benicio Del Toro is on a roll.

First, Del Toro lands the traffic-stopping role as a sexy,
conscientious Mexican police officer in "Traffic.''

Then, the Puerto Rican actor wins critical raves for his performance.
He's been named best supporting actor by the New York Film Critics
Circle and has been nominated for a Golden Globe.

Now, he's turned the head of one of New York's brainiest models,
flame-haired Jenny Kusner, who also is a screenwriter.

Word is they've been doing the bicoastal thing for a few months and,
over the holidays, Del Toro introduced Kusner to his family in Puerto
Rico.

Del Toro joined actors Gloria Ruben and Chazz Palminteri at a special
screening of "Traffic'' that Black Book magazine put together at New
York's TriBeCa Film Center.

Meanwhile, Steven Soderbergh -- who directed the film about the drug
war -- says he knows people whose lives have been crippled by
addiction but is grateful he never ran into the problem himself.

"I feel fortunate it's not something that's ever played a part in my
life that I had to deal with. It seems that in my family, none of us
are very addictive personalities.''

Soderbergh, who also directed ``Erin Brockovich'' with Julia Roberts,
said he wanted his new film about drug trafficking to show the
benefits of helping users break their addictions.

"You talk to any cop, they'll tell you, education and treatment pays
off like gangbusters,'' the 37-year-old filmmaker said. "The supply?
We're never going to stop that.''

The film, which co-stars Salma Hayek, Benjamin Bratt, Catherine
Zeta-Jones, Amy Irving, Miguel Ferrar and Michael Douglas, has won
best picture of the year by the New York Film Critics Circle.