POOR EXCUSE FOR SELLING DRUGS

Regarding "Police Getting Boost; Skepticism On Street" [Connecticut, June 21]:

I was appalled by the quote from Omar Williams about drugs and crime in
Hartford's North End. Williams said, "People aren't dealing drugs because
they like it. They're doing it because it's the only way to put food on the
table. If you have five mouths to feed at home and the only chance you have
to make any money is by hustling on the corner, what else are you gonna do?"

This is a sorry excuse for resorting to a life of crime. I believe that if
Mr. Williams ever sat down to think about this justification of an illegal
lifestyle, maybe he would discover the faulty logic behind it. The faulty
logic is that other children and possibly his own will die or be severely
disadvantaged in the name of feeding them. This way of thinking feeds the
drug trade.

Steve Mirsky

Hartford