DRUGS PLUS POLICE EQUALS CORRUPTION

I read with interest the events leading to the incarceration of a law
enforcement officer ("Former deputy sentenced to 20 years in prison,"
Oct. 17), and it reminded me of the first time I came to know police
corruption. When I was a college freshman in 1973, the Durham vice
squad was on a self-serving rampage similar to that of the former
Robeson County deputies, sans the kidnapping and shooting.

I thought then that only Hollywood law enforcement was capable of such
acts, but again, I was a naive 17-year-old. Police corruption seems
commonplace when fighting drugs these past 35 years. Haven't we
learned by now that prohibition supports an internecine relationship
with guns, money and drugs around the world?

There is a way out of this mess. Regulation and treatment.

Take the money and cops-and-robber game off the table and things might
change for the better.

Can't get much worse.

Peter Christopher