Kurt Schmoke: Profile in Courage

PSYCHOACTIVE

Kurt Schmoke’s life and mine intersected at a pivotal moment in the spring of 1988, as the war on drugs was approaching its most feverish pitch. I was a 31 year old assistant professor at Princeton University who had just published a prominent article which explained why the drug war was as doomed and counterproductive as alcohol Prohibition. Kurt was a 38 year old former district attorney who had just been elected mayor of Baltimore, when he said much the same to a national conference of mayors and police chiefs. It was an extraordinary act of political courage. Confronted by an avalanche and mockery, he did not back down. His life, and mine, were transformed. We talked about those times, why he did what he did, and what transpired.

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