face: addiction. This particular scene revolves around substance abuse. If you watch closely, you’ll find it’s one of the most captivating scenes that gives one of the most accurate interpretations of the true nature of addicts and addiction itself. Shelby Arnold said that in promoting public understanding, the Leo McGarry portrayal of alcoholism and addiction helped to weigh against some of the stigma caused by the "old Reagan-era" Just Say No campaign. The character showed alcoholism as a disease which was difficult to deal with, as opposed to a sin of temptation. The Guardian takes a slightly different angle on it: [In season 3, episode 9] Leo is pushed through the wringer ... His alcoholism is explored in excruciating detail, in the present and in flashbacks where he meets Bartlet for the first time. An episode about a man with an addictive personality unravelling due to the pressures of work, released eight months after Aaron Sorkin was arrested for felony drug possession, this one feels as if it's coming straight from the gut. See also List of characters on The West Wing List of The West Wing episodes References The West Wing characters Fictional advisors Fictional alcohol abusers Fictional aviators Fictional businesspeople Fictional characters from Chicago Fictional Christians Television characters introduced in 1999 Fictional colonels Fictional Democrats (United States) Fictional drug addicts Fictional United States cabinet members Fictional United States Air Force personnel Fictional Vietnam War veterans Fictional White House Chiefs of Staff Catholicism in fiction