Candy Man
As a crime analyst, I read stacks of police reports each day. Yesterday I devoured a load of narcotics arrests. Today I am wondering what it might be like to be a drug dealer, i.e., a "baller", "bidnessman", "pusher", "pharmacist" or "candy man". I began with a career comparison to my civil service job. Let's see...
- I am not required to be on-call. Their cells and pagers blow up 24/7. That's a lot of pressure.
- I do not need bilingual skills. They must speak drug. Would you understand if someone asked you for a fat albert (fentanyl), moon rock (crack mixed with heroin), biscuit (50 rocks of crack), mac & cheese ($5 of pot and dime bag of cocaine) or wake and bake (a hit first thing in the morning)? Communication is key in every business.
- I have a permanent work space. They must negotiate corner real estate with neighborhood thugs.
- If I make a mistake, I can usually fix it by editing my work product. If they make a mistake, like sell someone flea powder (low quality heroin) or perp (fake cocaine made with baking soda and wax), they will likely suffer a nasty physical injury and perhaps never be heard from again.
- So far, the scales (no pun intended) are tipped in favor of my job...now about the cream. I make about $270 a day. Not a bad haul. Then of course Uncle Sam takes his share. Juvenile gang members dealing cocaine daily can make about $1,000 a week , tax free, with an average of 30 sales and about 16 hours of work. I fall short on that one; I work about 45 hours a week.
- I really don't turn anyone into an addict by analyzing crime trends, unless of course they're captured by my flair for drama and crave more, more, more. Dealers push to millions of kids and adults every day and night.
No, I haven't any future in narcotics sales. Snarkyness aside, I think dealers are the worst of the worst simply on the volume of people they enable. Drug abuse is directly linked to most major property crimes, many violent crimes and innumerable destruction of the family unit. The candy man, in this context, is nothing short of a horrible mutation of humanity gone wrong.
drugs
gangs
crack
3 comments:
Hmmm... food for thought. The way you describe it, a drug dealer's life seems to be pretty unappealing. I certainly would not take it over my own life as a professional seismologist.
I've been reading a few posts on your blog, and have really enjoyed them. You have a very witty style of writing. I'm thinking your cynical sense of humor must help you get through all the days of analyzing crime data.
Happy blogging!
Thank you for your comment - my very first one! So exciting. Every morning I've logged on and faced the giant, lonely "0" and now a proud little "1" is there!
Yes, I've developed a bit of the edge commonly seen in law enforcement. I hope I don't become too jaded. But seeing all the talent and creativity in the blogosphere is very uplifting! Again, thanks for visiting.
Ahhh, well, I shall add another comment, then. This is my second visit here, having just discovered your blog yesterday. Good stuff - I'll be back.
As for the drug pushers... They DO make more per hour than I do, but I don't think I'll take up that profession either. Currently I work at a non-profit organization, with youth age 16 - 24, and I see the harsh effects drugs have had on their lives. And it's not just from them using, but from generations of drug and alcohol abuse. Currently one young lady we've worked with is pregnant. She used heavy narcotics all through the first trimester. What price has that unborn child already paid for this? Time will tell, and it may well be a sad story.
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