Pubdate: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC) Copyright: 2004 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc. Contact: http://www.journalnow.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504 Note: The Journal does not publish letters from writers outside its daily home delivery circulation area. Author: Clifton B. Ingram Jr. 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 - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin