7 ms·

Most drug dealers I know just do it to achieve a lifestyle they wouldn't normally be capable of with their existing job(s).

ipaddr 5y ago
Most drug dealers are doing it so they can smoke/drink for free maybe make a few dollars.
- hellbannedguy 5y ago
  While we're being honest, there's a small segment that sells because they think it cool. That whole gangster rap testosterone street $900 shoe guy. In college, I moved into a very cheap apartment. I had no idea, it was the worst part of Oakland. I saw some things that didn't make any sense. Some successful dealers had other opportunities. Most probally didn't. I was so naieve, I didn't know my roommate was selling until my second semester. I just though he had a lot of friends. He finally told me what he did one night over a video game. Where is he now? He's in a midwest prison over dealing pot. Yes, dealing pot. Why? He heard Potheads pay triple for what Californian's pay. He got his brother to come along. I remember him telling his brother, "you don't want to be a Waiter for life?" He, and his brother go to Ohio. They set up shop. They weren't violent, and didn't fit the stereotypes of a drug dealers. Everything was fine until they hired this little rich white kid who thought he was in a NWA alternative reality. He was "slinging" their product in his vernacular. Will this idiot killed a guy over a small amount of pot. The cops were more interested in the "kingpin" behind the operation. Well the kid squealed, and the prosecutor threw the book at my friend. They made him out to be Pablo Chicone. He was anything but a hard nosed killer. He never even owned a gun. Well, he got a long sentence.
  - mewkou 5y ago
    I'm sorry to hear that about your friend. Its never good to hear about how someone threw their life away for temporary rewards. You say they weren't violent, but violence is not the only reason we incarcerate individuals. He broke the law, he knew it, he got caught, and now he's living with those consequences. I hope he learns a lot from this and decides to no longer break the law in the future. I hope others can read your story and decide that breaking the law is not worth it. People are very cavalier with "non violent drug charges" as if dealing drugs is value neutral. It is not. There is societal harm to dealing drugs and I'm grateful for laws that forbid it and punish individuals that do it.
    - alisonkisk 5y ago
      The same argument applies to Turing being imprisoned for his homosexuality. There's nothing wrong with marijuana that deserves making it illegal, especially more illegal than murder, which was the point of this story!
      - TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
        That was going to be another point I wanted to raise. Homosexuality was illegal not so long ago, but it also harms no one and is approximately the business of only those directly involved. And yet we used to persecute people for... what? Something we'd been conditioned to reflexively disagree with. Shameful.
      - mewkou 5y ago
        Turing shouldn't have entered into a homosexual relationship if it was illegal. If he wanted to do so as an act of civil disobedience then he should have been prepared to endure the consequences as a public spectacle that would perhaps further his cause. Some laws are unjust, sure, but I don't think laws punishing drug deals are unjust.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._jurisdiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._j... Marijuana is legal or decriminalised in most of the developed world, including the USA. It's widely accepted to be relatively harmless, much less harmful than alcohol. This guy? He was an entrepreneur, just another person running a small business with a couple of employees. He didn't deserver a long jail sentence for someone else's fuck up. Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it's wrong / just because it's legal doesn't mean it's rigth.
      - mewkou 5y ago
        What do we call entrepreneurs that break the law? Criminals.
- voidfunc 5y ago
  Some, knew one in college paying the 40k/yr tuition selling overpriced molly/weed/coke to the students. Good racket lol. He got his degree and then went into some marketing and sales gig for a decade is doing quite well and I believe continues to sell on the side to trusted clients so not a street dealer (saw him last year at a buddies wedding).
- caymanjim 5y ago
  I don't know about most. Yeah, a lot of users peddle tiny amounts to cover their own consumption. Some dude sells a couple ounces of weed to get one free. A lot of street-level dealers don't use their product. They're hustling, it's a job. And the middlemen above them don't want them consuming the product. Junkies are not good dealers.

ipaddr 5y ago

Most drug dealers are doing it so they can smoke/drink for free maybe make a few dollars.

hellbannedguy 5y ago
While we're being honest, there's a small segment that sells because they think it cool. That whole gangster rap testosterone street $900 shoe guy. In college, I moved into a very cheap apartment. I had no idea, it was the worst part of Oakland. I saw some things that didn't make any sense. Some successful dealers had other opportunities. Most probally didn't. I was so naieve, I didn't know my roommate was selling until my second semester. I just though he had a lot of friends. He finally told me what he did one night over a video game. Where is he now? He's in a midwest prison over dealing pot. Yes, dealing pot. Why? He heard Potheads pay triple for what Californian's pay. He got his brother to come along. I remember him telling his brother, "you don't want to be a Waiter for life?" He, and his brother go to Ohio. They set up shop. They weren't violent, and didn't fit the stereotypes of a drug dealers. Everything was fine until they hired this little rich white kid who thought he was in a NWA alternative reality. He was "slinging" their product in his vernacular. Will this idiot killed a guy over a small amount of pot. The cops were more interested in the "kingpin" behind the operation. Well the kid squealed, and the prosecutor threw the book at my friend. They made him out to be Pablo Chicone. He was anything but a hard nosed killer. He never even owned a gun. Well, he got a long sentence.
- mewkou 5y ago
  I'm sorry to hear that about your friend. Its never good to hear about how someone threw their life away for temporary rewards. You say they weren't violent, but violence is not the only reason we incarcerate individuals. He broke the law, he knew it, he got caught, and now he's living with those consequences. I hope he learns a lot from this and decides to no longer break the law in the future. I hope others can read your story and decide that breaking the law is not worth it. People are very cavalier with "non violent drug charges" as if dealing drugs is value neutral. It is not. There is societal harm to dealing drugs and I'm grateful for laws that forbid it and punish individuals that do it.
  - alisonkisk 5y ago
    The same argument applies to Turing being imprisoned for his homosexuality. There's nothing wrong with marijuana that deserves making it illegal, especially more illegal than murder, which was the point of this story!
    - TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
      That was going to be another point I wanted to raise. Homosexuality was illegal not so long ago, but it also harms no one and is approximately the business of only those directly involved. And yet we used to persecute people for... what? Something we'd been conditioned to reflexively disagree with. Shameful.
    - mewkou 5y ago
      Turing shouldn't have entered into a homosexual relationship if it was illegal. If he wanted to do so as an act of civil disobedience then he should have been prepared to endure the consequences as a public spectacle that would perhaps further his cause. Some laws are unjust, sure, but I don't think laws punishing drug deals are unjust.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._jurisdiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._j... Marijuana is legal or decriminalised in most of the developed world, including the USA. It's widely accepted to be relatively harmless, much less harmful than alcohol. This guy? He was an entrepreneur, just another person running a small business with a couple of employees. He didn't deserver a long jail sentence for someone else's fuck up. Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it's wrong / just because it's legal doesn't mean it's rigth.
    - mewkou 5y ago
      What do we call entrepreneurs that break the law? Criminals.
voidfunc 5y ago
Some, knew one in college paying the 40k/yr tuition selling overpriced molly/weed/coke to the students. Good racket lol. He got his degree and then went into some marketing and sales gig for a decade is doing quite well and I believe continues to sell on the side to trusted clients so not a street dealer (saw him last year at a buddies wedding).
caymanjim 5y ago
I don't know about most. Yeah, a lot of users peddle tiny amounts to cover their own consumption. Some dude sells a couple ounces of weed to get one free. A lot of street-level dealers don't use their product. They're hustling, it's a job. And the middlemen above them don't want them consuming the product. Junkies are not good dealers.