Thread: Question about marijuana dealers

One of my characters starts dealing pot in high school. My question is, does the way it works with drug dealers is that the dealer buys X amount from the distributor and then goes off and sells it and keeps all the profit? Or does he have to give a cut to the distributor? Basically I want to know if the drug dealer is working for the distributor and owes him money on a regular basis or if he just buys from him and then is on his own. This takes place in the midwest in the late seventies if that matters.

According to a family friend who said that she was once a drug pusher (the one who sells drugs to the end-user), the hierarchy is very linear and simple. From the manufacturer (the bosses), the drug then goes to the distributors who control regions (e.g. the city of Manila will be considered one region). The distributors give the drugs to the pushers, or retailers, who then sell the merchandise to the end-user. This happened during the eighties, I think.

Now, the way the profit sharing goes is that the pusher gets only a small portion of the income. The rest is given to the distributors. The distributors again take a percentage of the profit given to him and the remaining money goes to the bosses.

And no. In the exact words of my aunt (I call her tita, as it is a Philippine custom), "'Pag pumasok ka sa sindikato, hindi ka na lalabas 'dyan ng buhay." which roughly translates to "Once you enter the business, you can only get out of it as a dead man."

Originally Posted by redrock

One of my characters starts dealing pot in high school. My question is, does the way it works with drug dealers is that the dealer buys X amount from the distributor and then goes off and sells it and keeps all the profit? Or does he have to give a cut to the distributor? Basically I want to know if the drug dealer is working for the distributor and owes him money on a regular basis or if he just buys from him and then is on his own. This takes place in the midwest in the late seventies if that matters.

Both of those set-ups and more are probable. What's most likely (from my, err, extensive personal....research. Yeah. Ahem) is that the dealer would, at first, buy to sell from the supplier. After he proves his worth with a few buys, the supplier might start giving it to him on the front and expecting his cut after the sales. So, basically, go with whichever you prefer or whichever suits the story best.

I reckon the midwest and the seventies would be more laid back than that, fuhrer. They won't be dealing with him unless they trust him, the most likely scenario is that they lay it on him and he pays them when he has sold it, he determines his own prices and profit margin, but usually about 20%. My mate Basil who started importing brass ware, incense and stuff like that from India about then always laughed at the fact that he made five times the profit and could simply go to Heathrow and collect the goods from a warehouse at no risk.

what's marijuana?

I think it's the capital of Cuba.

xO - Cannabis, known at different times and in different places as Mary Jane, grass, pot, tea, ganja, weed, smoke... And pretending you don't know what it is won't impress the magistrate one bit.

LOL this thread is way cute and innocent.

Basically what happens is if you (you as in, any random person)want to sell, you have to find someone who deals in larger amounts. The larger amount you buy at one time, the more you can break it down and sell it in smaller portions and the more profit you make. It just continues down the chain... so if I find someone who will sell me an ounce for 300$, and I break it into 8ths, and sell each 8th for 50$ I make 100$ profit *(or get a bunch of free weed).... those are just random numbers but you get it. You wouldn't be dealing with the person you buy from unless you'd worked out some sort of deal with them where they were going to front you a large amount and pay them back later, but that doesn't sound like something most dealers I've known would have done... not unless it was a trusted friend. But I'm sure it happens.

Basically it's your story, so you can have the dealer/buyer work out whatever sort of deal you want.

That's inflation for you. When I was a kid a dime bag was 1/8.

Over here we can grow it in our front garden and no one will ask about it, we had an opium plant growing in our universities flower bed (mind you it was just one plant).

Thanks this is helpful. I need to have my distributor be a menacing character who tries to get revenge on my high school dealer kid so for my story its better if the kid is always owing him money.

Originally Posted by garza

That's inflation for you. When I was a kid a dime bag was 1/8.

Crazy! I don't even know anyone who would sell a dime anymore. Although I'm talking about the highest grade stuff you can get on the street basically... super fantastic crystal covered green-ness. If you're going to smoke, make that lung damage worth it, I say. lol.

I'm sure you can probably get dirt weed for cheap.

I'm talking quality. I'm also talking 60 years ago. No xtals though.

It would be a good idea to restrict comments to answering the OP rather than getting into a discussion on the merits of illegal substances.

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Originally Posted by redrock

Thanks this is helpful. I need to have my distributor be a menacing character who tries to get revenge on my high school dealer kid so for my story its better if the kid is always owing him money.

If the kid got it laid on him and was then ripped off he would still owe the dealer without having the means to pay him.