[MichaelGG]

>Like most addicts in denial, potheads live under the bogus assumption that every bong hit will be their last.

Uh, what? While there may be some people that have hit problems and want to change because their life is being negatively impacted, most "addicts" are quite fine where they are. I personally don't like pot, but I've never known any pothead to keep saying "this will be my last hit" - quite the opposite. Like Snoop says "Smoke weed everyday".

Edit: Also, he disses his pill clients ("depravity"), while simultaneously noting that they're the wealthier ones, pouring him "expensive scotch".

Seems like he had some odd delusions of being cool, and wanted to show how hard being a delivery boy is ("read three books a week"), while also showing his superiority to "addicts".

[corin_]

In my experience, weed smokers are the least likely to be always wanting to quit. I've known plenty of people who wanted to give up cigarettes, or drugs like coke, but I can't think of a single person who was wanting to give up weed and not managing.

[ledge]

I quit using marijuana just over 8 months ago now. It was extremely hard for me to stop. The physical withdrawals are minor -- a slight headache, trouble sleeping for a few weeks or months, crazy vivid dreams -- but psychologically it can be as addictive as anything else.

Years ago I was a daily cocaine user, tried heroin a few times, etc. but letting go of those was easy for me. When I decided to stop, it was over and I haven't touched them since. With marijuana I had wanted to quit for at least a year before I succeeded. The adverse effect on my life was clear, but the ritual was completely ingrained. I eventually managed to quit by radically changing my lifestyle so that I was no longer surrounded by the culture and the drug itself.

I still definitely have cravings, especially at night, and very occasionally I need to go have a few beers as some sort of substitution therapy (even though I don't really enjoy alcohol, and never drank before quitting).

That said, I agree that the author of the article is being ridiculously presumptuous and is wrong about the mentality of most marijuana users. (Edit: I also think this guy is totally, totally full of shit and making up the entire story.)

[corin_]

I guess your luck balanced out given you tried heroin a few times without getting hooked, and coke can be tough to give up for lots of people (out of interest, mind if I ask how much you were using daily? just curious). Congratulations on managing to kick the weed use, anyway!

[ledge]

Maybe 3 or 4 large lines (high quality) a day for around 6 months. Not a crazy amount, but enough that I was surprised how easy it was for me to stop.

Weed on the other hand I used in massive amounts, so I'm sure that was part of my fixation. It was ingrained into all of my daily routines (exercise, waking up, sleeping, eating, coursework, socializing), plus I began smoking during a rough period in life so maybe that's why it had such a hold on me. Thanks for the encouragement!

[dilap]

They exist.

Of course, there are lots of people who are totally happy w/ their consumption, and have no desire to change, and/or if they did have the desire, did so.

But people w/ problems really do exist. I've personally known people who wanted to stop smoking, but found it very, very difficult.

(I feel like these stories don't get heard as much because there's a popular perception of weed not being a "hard" or a "real" drug, and so you sort of get laughed at if you say it's something you have a problem with.)

[shocks]

What does w/ mean?

[pstuart]

with

[shocks]

Oh, okay. I genuinely thought it meant 'without'. Thanks for clearing up the confusion.

(I wonder if it was really worth trying to save those two letters?)

[dilap]

It's more a stylistic thing / linguistic tic than about the savings in characters. Without would be "w/o". Like, "I'm going to the dance, w/ or w/o you."

Or imagine an album titled "W/ or w/o you". Has a nice look to it. Also, check out the Google results for "w/ or w/o you". Impressive expansion on the part of Google.

(Edit: I originally said it saved three letters, but of course, that was me forgetting to count / as a letter. :)

[indlebe]

I seriously question the authenticity of this piece, especially the last bit about the pill clients being the more "wealthy ones". Either that or this guy worked the most atypical drug dealing job I've heard of.

In a more common situation, clients that are of a more permanant wealth would demand higher quality pot, hashish and perhaps opium. "New Money" may dabble in cocaine but if they're not uber rich or don't keep it in check that money won't last long.

[MichaelGG]

Plenty of high-level professionals use opiates (pills like Oxycontin). Look around for some rather tiny pupils on people doing high-stress, high-paying jobs. Opium tends to make you lay around and usually need to vomit, so I'm not sure why that'd be preferable to [semi]synthetic opiates.

[indlebe]

>Plenty of high-level professionals use opiates (pills like Oxycontin)

Perhaps, but I still question the likeliness that the mainstream pot dealer would move to selling pills still distributing from the same source. Pot, cocaine, mdmda, etc are available in bulk from illicit sources. Prescription pills usually come from a legal source at some point and come in smaller quantities. From what I hear opium is more expensive because of the difficulty to transport it in its raw form, and therefore sought after.

Wealthier clients usually have a doctor that will write them the prescriptions for a fee. It's not unfathomable that his dealer also had a line on prescription pills, and he did note that he went dry from time to time but still...

[corin_]

Again purely anecdotal from my own small sample, but I've known people taking prescription pills illegally by buying through a dealer, haven't known anyone keeping their habit going based on legitimate doctor prescriptions. Have also known dealers who had pills available - though in what quantity and from what sources I've no idea.

[indlebe]

I've also known junkies who buy 1 or 2 oxy at a time from a dealer, who buys 30 at a time, but his source who buys 1000 gets them from a doctor.

My experiences with this are based in canada so there may be a cultural difference there. But the pot dealing crowd and the pill dealing crowd are far removed from each other unless you are in DTE vancouver, and then it's only physical proximity.

[dobbsbob]

I laughed out loud when I read that idiotic part about "this will be my last hit" too.

I do like John McAfee's take on chronic weed use though: “Marijuana is the drug of illusion. It creates the the illusion that you’re thinking great thoughts and doing great things while you’re sitting on the sofa and growing a beard.”

Anyways, if this guy was delivering Oxy he's lucky he is still alive. Oxy drivers are almost always jacked where I live. All the major crew members here are addicted to it because it calms them from being paranoid since they are all marked for death by each other and constantly looking over their shoulder. Gangster anxiety is best explained in the classic song My Mind Playing Tricks On Me by the Geto Boys.

Kind of strange this guy didn't mention any anxiety of being busted or having a gun shoved in his face. He just slammed all his customers leading me to believe he didn't actually deliver drugs. If you don't wake up in the middle of the night panicking after dreaming of your door getting kicked in or don't think that everybody on the street is following you then you aren't in the game.

[gaadd33]

I wouldn't think think low level delivery guys in Manhattan have that much to worry about. The types of customers he presumably was delivering to aren't the types to go buy an illegal handgun somewhere and then mug a delivery guy for $1K in drugs given they obviously make several times that in their job.

As far as being busted goes, if he's taking cabs/walking everywhere and its in say Midtown Manhattan and he's dressed like any other 20 something with a laptop bag, its unlikely he'll be randomly stopped and frisked.

[dobbsbob]

True, but other crews pay for intel on competitor delivery driver operations because that's their ATM machine: robbing and taxing weak criminals. Especially the pill customers, it's likely they have other delivery drivers since they are addicts and wouldn't think twice about dropping a dime on this guy for some free Oxy. The other crew then sticks a gun in his face, and demands to know where the boss keeps the safe house and it's all downhill from there. I guess his 'boss' paid taxes to avoid this.

I learned all this from an unfortunate but informative stint in jail for a minor computer tresspassing charge. Guy's in there close to release form new crews and when they get out the first thing they do is rob a delivery driver to start their new business. They approach existing org crime outfits and receive loans, guns and vehicles to go conquer and tax new territory.

Here's a timely article about exactly what we are talking about: http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/10/04/corey-lal-took-over...

[toadi]

Never thought someone would mention Geto Boys on HN. besides my commodores and other computer related paraphernalia brings back youth memories.

[scotty79]

> ... most "addicts" are quite fine where they are.

I think he just might have had older clients. People at some age that are stuck in the routine all have dreams how to change their lives to make them more fulfilling. But they can't get out of their current semi-comfortable lives (which in those cases pot was part of).

[pavel_lishin]

I guess I've never known the really sad people like the ones he describes. A lot of my friends smoke, and they tend to come in two varieties:

1. Those that smoke every day, who will skip on other luxuries to pay for weed. 2. Those who smoke very casually, and typically go for months at a time without smoking. They'll usually only buy more when an opportunity presents itself.

I know very successful, highly skilled and well paid people and I know people who aren't very ambitious - in both categories - and I know those same types of people who don't smoke, or drink at all.

I guess I should count myself lucky that I've never managed to fall into a group of people for whom smoking is a problem, and an addiction, and a weight holding them down.

[DanBC]

I agree that the vast majority of cannabis users don't live under the bogus assumption that every bong hit will be their last.

But here's my anecdota to counter the others appearing.

I've met some people who have had considerable trouble stopping using cannabis, and who felt that cannabis was addictive.

(but I'm still in favour of legalising drugs)

[cabalamat]

> but I've never known any pothead to keep saying "this will be my last hit" - quite the opposite

This is my experience too.