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While picking up “supplies” for Burning Man, I had a chat with my friend, who has dealt marijuana, hash, mushrooms, and sometimes Merinol (a THC pill) for about a year now. Tom (not his real name) prefers the term “medicinal and recreational supply specialist” because drug dealer sounds so seedy.
Tablet: Do you think it’s hard for a person to get into dealing?
Tom: Before I was a server and a bartender, and I did it to supplement my income. I think it depends on what you want to deal. Then, I wouldn’t say it is easy, but I wouldn’t say it is difficult. It all depends on what your goal is, what you want to get out of it.
Tablet: What are average prices these days for pot?
Tom: It depends on the quality. Average customer prices for an eighth (of an ounce) would be $40. Sometimes you can find it cheaper, but it’s going to be really bad quality. Some stuff would be $50 for an eighth, which is really good stuff. That would be indoor stuff or Humboldt County weed—the stuff that I get.
Tablet: When you started dealing, do you think that affected any of your friendships?
Tom: I’m careful about who I tell. Naturally, you have to be careful about who you tell. Actually, I’ve made a lot of friends because of dealing. I’ve met a lot of cool people. That’s one thing people have in common, smoking pot. Pot smokers are generally cool people you’d want to sit down and hang out with.
Tablet: Do you think it would be different if you were dealing other drugs, like coke or heroin?
Tom: Yeah, I think that is the difference between your softer drugs—alcohol being a drug and people definitely being addicted to nicotine. Weed has more respect. I think there is less respect, less tolerance, for harder street drugs. The people that tend to do those drugs justify the stereotype in a lot of ways. The people I see on the Ave or on Broadway (in Seattle), they’re dirty. Those aren’t the people I want coming into my house to pick up their next fix. I don’t see any potheads strung out on the sidewalk, eating out of garbage cans—it looks to be heroin and cocaine addicts that do that.
Tablet: How much do you make a month?
Tom: I would say anywhere between three and four thousand dollars.
Tablet: How much pot do you sell in a month?
Tom: I go through about a pound a month, sometimes two.
Tablet: How have you built your customer base?
Tom: Mostly through word of mouth; I sell to my friends. I started with a couple ounces and tried to get rid of them to my friends. And it was all people I worked with. It wasn’t just random people on the street. So it was all cool. A lot of people I worked with in the service industry smoked. It kind of went from there. So they brought their friends, and word spread. Sometimes I meet people at bars and we hang out. People like what I have, and they keep coming back.
Tablet: What do you think are the benefits of having your job?
Tom: There are a lot of benefits. Being able to set my own hours and run things as a business is great. This is a business. If you want to be profitable—if you want to pay your bills, pay your rent, do some fun things and have a good time—you have to treat it as a business. It’s nice to be your own boss. I like the freedom.
Tablet: Do you think there are drawbacks?
Tom: Well, it’s illegal. Also, I’ve increased my pot smoking. I definitely smoke more than before I started dealing. I pretty much smoke all day, every day. It’s different when you don’t have a pound of weed sitting around your house. I mean, I have a lot of bud, and when you have a lot you don’t even notice it.
Tablet: Do you ever worry about getting caught or having people rat you out?
Tom: I don’t think it is good to worry about that. If you worry about it too much, then you aren’t going to be successful, because you’re scared and you won’t do your job. You have to have a lot of common sense. You have to choose your clients and weed out the ones who don’t respect what you do. If a person is a threat to me getting caught—bringing people over without my permission, or showing up unannounced or calling me at weird hours—I just don’t deal with those people. I mostly deal to friends. They are loyal customers and come to me all the time. People who only smoke weed or drink tend to be more responsible and have more common sense. I don’t want to associate myself with people who do dirty street drugs. Yeah, people do them recreationally, but as a dealer you get all kinds of people who use that drug.
Tablet: Would you ever trade sex for drugs?
Tom: No, I would not. I would trade other things for pot. Barter is a great thing. A buddy traded me a $100 Safeway card for an ounce of weed. And like bartenders, I give them some pot and they give me free beer. Anyway, no one’s gonna say, “I’ll suck your dick for weed.” It’s like the classic movie, “Half Baked,” when Bob Saget says, “Marijuana isn’t a drug; I used to suck dick for coke. Now that’s an addiction. You ever suck some dick for marijuana?” I don’t see anyone sucking dick for weed. I personally don’t suck dick for any drug.
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