CORRUPTION WITHIN

Corruption in our criminal-justice system may be much more rampant
than we think, and with the amount of capital invested in the drug
trade, it shouldn't be very surprising. Who is getting richer, the
drug dealers or the sheriff's department ("Hege pleads guilty in
deal," May 18)?

The laws allow for suspected drug dealers/users to be profiled,
arrested, and for their assets (cash, car, house etc.) to be seized
immediately (guilty or innocent). Hege the "no deal" man accepted a
deal.

They should let everyone he and his department arrested for drug
crimes go immediately. Without making up criminal statistics, I can
safely say way too many non-violent drug offenders are persecuted in
North Carolina and the United States.

When will North Carolina learn that drug crimes are a direct result of
drug prohibition? Let's send our kids to college instead of prison!
Not every user is an abuser, and we should treat the abuser
respectfully with humane rehabilitation rather than archaic
incarceration.

Clifton B. Ingram Jr.

Clemmons