When Schmoke opened his mouth on that April day in 1988, what came out was revolutionary. In his trademark even tone, he criticized U.S. drug policy and proposed that the mayors of America’s big cities and their police chiefs consider decriminalization. “Have we failed to consider the lessons of the Prohibition era?” Schmoke asked the leaders. “Now is the time to fight on the only terms the drug underground empire respects—money. Let’s take the profit out of drug trafficking.”
