Editor’s note: This is part two of a two-part series examining the life of those who enforce the law and those who break it.
Many students find the need for extra money when they arrive in Madison and pursue a temporary career at one of the many downtown restaurants or shops. However, some University of Wisconsin students find money easy to come in other ways, like selling marijuana to their friends.
“You can’t live on bread alone,” one such dealer said.
The UW junior and psychology major who would like to be known as Smithers said he only sells pot to his friends in eighth-of-a-pound quantities.
“We wouldn’t sell it to anyone we didn’t know because that’s sketchy,” Smithers said.
Smithers said he buys half a pound at a time from a friend from his hometown who is also a UW student. Smithers’ dealer gets what he calls “good pot” from the same Minnesota town.
However, turning a profit from “helping out your friends” can pose problems, despite the possibility of the thousands of dollars in the monthly payoff.
“People would get too familiar,” Smithers said. He said people would call him on his cell phone whenever they felt like it and just ask for pot. Smithers said some of his friends would bring friends to his downtown apartment and smoke up, and would in turn want to buy from his stash.
Smithers added some of his clients would bring the weed to the dorms, but he would never set up shop in the residence halls.
Despite that, the marijuana seller said he has never been afraid of the possible repercussions of distributing the illegal substance.
“I’ve not really had anything to be worried about,” Smithers said, adding police have never posed a problem to his distribution. Smithers admitted he dabbles in illegal substances so he’s always been careful. “In my book, if you get caught once [you did something wrong].”
He also said no complaints were to be had of his dealings.
“Either you want to buy a bag or you don’t,” Smithers said while he played XBOX video games for hours Wednesday afternoon.
Smithers also disputed the current presidential administration’s allegations drug dealers contribute money to terrorist organizations. Calling the argument “bull,” he said there is no way he can see his selling dope as sponsoring terrorism.
Smithers also admitted pot smoking has gotten in the way of his schooling as well, but stressed moderation, despite this, he smoked at least three bowls in three hours.
However the war on drugs develops, Smithers said the battle is all about supply.
“Would the world be a better place without drugs? Probably,” Smithers said. “[But], I think people will get high if they want to get high,” adding if marijuana is not around, people will find something else to get them high.
Smithers philosophy often correlates with Dr. Hunter S. Thompson’s character Raoul Duke in his ode to the American Dream, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”
“My attorney had never been able to accept the notion ? often espoused by former drug abusers ? that you can get a lot higher without drugs than with them,” Thompson wrote. “And neither have I, for that matter.”
