# Question about marijuana dealers



## redrock (Mar 18, 2011)

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.


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## TheFuhrer02 (Mar 19, 2011)

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."


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## Leyline (Mar 19, 2011)

redrock said:


> 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.


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## Olly Buckle (Mar 19, 2011)

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.


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## The Backward OX (Mar 19, 2011)

what's marijuana?


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## Bruno Spatola (Mar 19, 2011)

I think it's the capital of Cuba.


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## garza (Mar 19, 2011)

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.


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## starseed (Mar 19, 2011)

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.


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## garza (Mar 19, 2011)

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


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## Custard (Mar 19, 2011)

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).


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## redrock (Mar 19, 2011)

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.


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## starseed (Mar 19, 2011)

garza said:


> 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.


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## garza (Mar 19, 2011)

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


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## Baron (Mar 19, 2011)

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.



> *Content Which Encourages Illegal Activity:* Posts which are considered to encourage illegal activity will be removed. Again this is at staff discretion and is not open to debate



vBulletin FAQ


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## Olly Buckle (Mar 19, 2011)

redrock said:


> 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.


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## MJ Preston (Mar 19, 2011)

I have tried to read this thread from beginning to end, but by the the time I get to post...........wait a minute.................sorry had to scroll up. 

By the time I get to post 12, I completely forget what I read and have to start over.

Awesome thread dude.

Epic!


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## Will Flannigan (Mar 24, 2011)

The way it worked with some friends I knew (wink wink) is the dealer would go a bigger dealer (or distributor) and take X amount on loan.  Then he would owe the bigger dealer money.  But he was also getting lower prices because he was getting in bulk.  So the smaller dealer turns around, increases the price, makes a profit and then pays back the distributor what he owes him.


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## Simon Dowling (Mar 31, 2011)

The answer actually completely depends on context.


Is the dealer only a little older than the guy in school being sold to or is he mid 20s?
Where is this happening? What city/country/region and year?

*Reseller*

A 15 year old buys a larger amount than single use.
Let's say he buys 1oz (28~g)
He buys it for around £150 (not real value by the way)
He breaks it into smaller bags, traditionally 3.54g (1/8; £20) or 1.77g (1/16; £10)
Actual weights will be more like 2.7g (£20) or 1.2g (£10)
Profit is made from discount at bulk (1oz is cheaper than buying smaller; hello economics) and cheating the weight

*Supported Seller*

No restriction on age but generally older with connections to the distributors that the resellers use
Distributor shares amount between sellers (dependent on known sales volume per seller)
Distributor can set price and weight restrictions to accomplish 'brand' loyalty
Profit comes from profit-sharing with distributor at street prices vs weight
Could encourage loyalty with better weights (3.0g/3.2g instead of 2.7g)
Distributor has access to large amounts so can work on large economies of scale

Drug dealing is the same as any other business, what is more likely depends on the characters involved, how much detail you want to go into and the context we are discussing here. What I described above is more modern in terms of structure and of course from what I know about what happens in London specifically.

Hope this gave some info and wasn't just a bad copy of other's comments


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## Ditch (Mar 31, 2011)

redrock said:


> 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.



The way it worked in the 70's was a person started small. I quickly realized that people would be willing to front ten dollars for an ounce and trust me with the money. Ten people equaled $100.00 which was what a pound sold for back then. After removing the large stems then separating it into bags the size of a beer can or "four fingers" as was the standard, I would then meet the ten people at a remote location say on the river bank at night. After cutting out ten bags there was always 6-8 bags left for me to sell or keep.

Generally, the relationship between a supplier of pounds and a distributor of bags was a friendly one, there was mutual trust involved. Eventually the supplier would then front the pound and wait for his money. In the 70's he didn't have to wait long.

Making the story real, the menacing character should be a rival dealer or supplier who sees your character as competition that needs to be eliminated. There was always a mutual trust between the supplier and the dealer or the relationship would never have taken place.


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