Pubdate: Tue, 18 Jun 2013
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2013 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Neill Franklin
Note: Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against 
Prohibition (www.copssaylegalizedrugs.com), did narcotics policing 
with the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police Department for 
over 30 years.

NEEDLESS DEATH IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

Thirteen years ago, Cpl. Ed Toatley was working undercover for the 
Maryland State Police when he was murdered during a botched drug deal 
in Washington, D.C. Ed was a close friend of mine, and his tragic 
death Oct. 30, 2000, began my quest to end America's longest war, the 
failed war on drugs. That quest led me to the newly formed Law 
Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), an international nonprofit 
organization for law enforcement professionals embarking on journeys 
similar to mine, where I have served as executive director for the 
past three years.

Recently, another murder was committed as a result of the drug war - 
one that strikes me with similar emotion to what I felt upon hearing 
about Ed's death. Akeem Yarberough, 36, was gunned down early on the 
morning of June 4 at a bus stop in Baltimore's Reservoir Hill, less 
than half a block from my mother's home, where she has lived for 53 
years, raising my four siblings and me. Akeem is the son of my 
childhood friends Gregory and Robertha "Cat" Yarberough.

Like countless other young, black men in Baltimore, Akeem had just 
been released from federal prison for his involvement in the local 
drug trade and was dedicated to putting the pieces of his life back 
together. Akeem was on his way to work, a job he had found at a local 
thrift store, when he was gunned down over unsettled business linked 
to his past involvement with the drug market in Baltimore. Akeem was 
not a bad person, and he did not deserve to die. Rather, like many 
young men in Baltimore, he grew up in physical, economic and social 
environments that put him in the wrong situation at the wrong time.

Reservoir Hill was once a close-knit, prosperous community of 
law-abiding, blue-collar workers. But when many of the industries 
upon which its residents depended for income began shipping their 
labor overseas in the 1960s and '70s, unemployment devastated the 
community. A market for illegal drugs sprang up that in turn gave 
birth to a system of gang affiliation and violence. Soon to follow 
this shift to black-market employment in Baltimore was the 
recruitment and hiring of local police by the Nixon administration, 
to enforce the federal government's get-tough policies of the war on 
drugs. This directly targeted black communities like Reservoir Hill.

Unfortunately for Akeem and thousands of other black men and women 
who have been labeled felons as a result of the war on drugs, the 
challenge of finding meaningful, legal employment becomes only more 
difficult and discouraging after release from prison. A recent 
Washington Post article reveals that only 26 percent of black males 
ages 20 to 34 with less than a high school education and a criminal 
record are employed. That number is over 57 percent for white males 
in the same category. With the availability of legal employment so 
scarce in communities of formerly incarcerated blacks, employment 
within the illicit drug trade becomes more attractive - potentially 
even necessary for survival.

But harder still is to survive these conditions at all. The murders 
of both Ed and Akeem are just two examples of a huge problem of gun 
violence and murder spawned by 42 years of failed drug prohibition 
policies - two murders from different sides of the game, and for me, 
both too close to home. But there are countless others. Baltimore 
Police Officer Michael Cowdery was murdered by a drug dealer soon 
after Ed. In 2003, the Dawson family of seven was murdered in one 
night by a drug dealer because their mother, Angela, was working with 
the police to have that drug dealer removed from her neighborhood. 
She was doing what we, the police, want all citizens to do. And 
Baltimore is just a case study for a nationwide epidemic of 
prohibition-related violence and death.

As long as we continue with the failed drug war and prohibition, the 
losses will continue to mount on all sides. Families will continue to 
lose fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, nieces and 
nephews; some to prison, some to murder and too many to both. 
Neighborhoods like Reservoir Hill will remain captive to violence and 
decay, and residents will continue to question what happened to the 
security and prosperity they once enjoyed as a community. 
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom