7/28/2019 Another Needless Death in America's Long, Failed War on Drugs

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Another needless death in America's long,failed war on drugsA Baltimore man, out of prison and working to put his life back

together, is murdered over unsettled business from the drugtrade

By Neill Franklin10:44 a.m. EDT, June 17, 2013

Thirteen years ago, Cpl. Ed Toatley was workingundercover for the Maryland State Police when he wasmurdered 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 longestwar, the failed war on drugs. That quest led me to the newly formed Law Enforcement

Against Prohibition (LEAP), an international nonprofit organization for law enforcementprofessionals embarking on journeys similar to mine, where I have served as executivedirector for the past three years.

Recently, another murder was committed as a result of the drug war one that strikesme with similar emotion to what I felt upon hearing about Ed's death. AkeemYarberough, 36, was gunned down early on the morning of June 4 at a bus stop inBaltimore's Reservoir Hill, less than half a block from my mother's home, where she haslived 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 fromfederal prison for his involvement in the local drug trade and was dedicated to puttingthe pieces of his life back together. Akeem was on his way to work, a job he had foundat a local thrift store, when he was gunned down over unsettled business linked to hispast involvement with the drug market in Baltimore. Akeem was not a bad person, andhe did not deserve to die. Rather, like many young men in Baltimore, he grew up inphysical, economic and social environments that put him in the wrong situation at thewrong time.

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

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7/28/2019 Another Needless Death in America's Long, Failed War on Drugs

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Unfortunately for Akeem and thousands of other black men and women who have beenlabeled felons as a result of the war on drugs, the challenge of finding meaningful, legalemployment becomes only more difficult and discouraging after release from prison. Arecent Washington Post article reveals that only 26 percent of black males ages 20 to34 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 oflegal employment so scarce in communities of formerly incarcerated blacks,employment within the illicit drug trade becomes more attractive potentially evennecessary for survival.

But harder still is to survive these conditions at all. The murders of both Ed and Akeemare just two examples of a huge problem of gun violence and murder spawned by 42years 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 Policeofficers Michael Cowdery and Kavon Gavin were murdered by drug dealers soon afterEd. In 2003, the Dawson family of seven was murdered in one night by a drug dealerbecause their mother, Angela, was working with the police to have that drug dealerremoved from her neighborhood. She was doing what we, the police, want all citizens todo. And Baltimore is just a case study for a nationwide epidemic of prohibition-relatedviolence and death.

As long as we continue with the failed drug war and prohibition, the losses will continueto 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 toboth. Neighborhoods like Reservoir Hill will remain captive to violence and decay, andresidents will continue to question what happened to the security and prosperity theyonce enjoyed as a community.

Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition(www.copssaylegalizedrugs.com), did narcotics policing with the Maryland State PoliceandBaltimore Police Departmentfor over 30 years.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-drug-war-20130617,0,2706565.story#ixzz2WUqFem5H

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