Gil Riego, Jr.
“I had a gun pointed to my head. It was one of those classic situations when I realized that I should stop,” said *Riley (not his real name) as he recounted his story.
“There was going to be this huge deal with four pounds of pot. A guy referred me to someone who wanted 8 ounces. I went to meet him in a parking lot. The next thing I knew, there was a gun to my face.”
College is known as the time where people experiment with various ideas, testing the waters to see where they want their lives to go – including crossing some sexual boundaries and dabbling in drugs. Furthermore, in cities like San Jose in California, cannabis is widely available from companies like purple lotus. Nonetheless, the legalisation of marijuana is undoubtedly a controversial topic. If you would like to visit a headshop then you can check out Grasscity.
Interestingly, these college tests are not something you will find in the Pierce catalog or on the Web site, or any other college for that matter, but it is what many call a rite of passage to adulthood.
“I actually started when I was 14 years old,” Riley said as he retold his history of drug use.
He came from Orange County not knowing a thing about the hidden Valley life that gets swept under the mainstream rug.
“It was completely random how I got into (taking drugs),” Riley recalled. “I just made friends with some people, who turned out to be heavy potheads.”
“At 16, I had the genius idea of ‘Oh! I’ll just deal and I’ll smoke for free and make money selling.’ “
For the past few years, Riley has been living the life of a drug dealer. He usually carried about two ounces of marijuana and 20 to 50 random pills, hiding them in little stow-away containers that were easy to get rid of in case he got pulled over or searched.
He sold more introductory drugs like marijuana to harder drugs such as mushrooms. This is part of why marijuana is seen as a ‘gateway’ to other drugs, and part of the reason why countries like Canada want to take marijuana away from the street dealers and to legal businesses such as CannaCabana instead.
“I’ve sold cocaine once,” Riley recalled. “That’s something I’ve tried to stay away from. My friend got really fucked up with that shit.”
As Riley found out, narcotics are known to cause heavy damage to a person’s state of mind and health.
“(Drugs) can screw you up,” said Beth Benne, director of the Pierce Student Health Center. “It can lead to organ failure, cause loss of relationships and lead to emotional or psychological damage.
“Many people don’t think of the long term effects of these drugs. It’s really not worth the cheap thrill, or expensive thrill in some cases,” she continued.
But there are a few people at Pierce who think about drugs being brought onto campus and their effects on the future.
“We take a proactive stance when it comes to drugs on campus,” said Jeanine Swanson, Los Angeles County Sheriff Department Senior Lead Deputy and top law enforcement at Pierce. “Although we don’t have a lot of activity of drugs on campus, we still keep a lookout.”
With a reported average of less than one drug-related arrest per year, in the past four years, the Sheriff’s Station receives about one phone call a month reporting drug usage on campus.
“We follow regulation and make sure we respect the rights of the students,” Swanson reassured. “In fact, our last drug arrest was based on another issue, where the suspect was in possession of heroin. We do not have a list of named drug dealers on campus.”
Riley said, “if everyone on campus was placed right in front of me, I could probably point out at least 15 to 20 dealers. I could probably even name some dealers who don’t even know that I know they deal.”
“Every day was a busy day for me. I usually tried to keep my Sundays free to just relax. Oddly enough, weekdays were the busier days for me.”
On a good week, Riley made $600 dealing. On average, he made $300 a week.
Even with that much liquid income flowing through his wallet, Riley knew where he stood in society.
“I’m a bad guy; Well, I used to be. Everyone needs to know that if you’re going to get into this, you have to be willing to do what it takes. This wasn’t the first time that a gun has been fired towards me, but if I can control it, it’ll be the last.”
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2004 there were roughly 319,500 arrests in the U.S. of people who dealt drugs.
When Riley was one of these bad guys, he said he used to have 30 to 40 small-time customers, to whom he would sell some pot and pills every once in awhile. He had about 10 to 15 big-time clients who bought the hard stuff.
“I’ve never really dealt anything on campus,” he said. “I usually delivered things. There have been times I’ve passed a dub ($20 worth of marijuana) or two while on the way to class, but that was because it was convenient for everyone.”
“What concerns me most is that dealers are no longer the big issue now,” he continued. “There are so many people on campus that carry cannabis cards, and cannabis clubs (are) where they get medical marijuana and hook up their friends.” He says he sees people doing it all the time on campus.
“Hell yeah, it’s easy to get,” said Forrest West, a 20-year-old Pierce student. “If I really wanted to get anything, I could. I smoke it to relax. I have never done anything harder than (marijuana) though.”
Pierce student Javier Leon, 21, smokes marijuana and feels that there’s an image that comes with doing drugs – alcohol included.
Both West and Leon’s families knows about their usage of drugs.
“My family tried to make me stop,” West said. “They actually think I did stop. But I feel that if it doesn’t affect my school, work or how I am as a person, then there’s not an issue.”
Benne understands the usage of marijuana for medical purposes. “When I used to work in a hospital, we gave THC pills to help nausea within chemotherapy patients. There were times we opened the windows and let the patients smoke to help with the pain.” Benne still wants people to know that it’s illegal, and should only be used for extreme cases.
“I’m not opposed to having marijuana for medical use,” Riley said. “If someone is suffering, why shouldn’t we try to help them? But I am against full legalization.”
Today, Riley has stopped doing drugs entirely, only indulging in alcohol every now and then.
“My friends come over still and do shit,” he said. “I learned to pass my time by cooking. When they come over, I just go to the kitchen and start making them food.”
Riley has started to turn his life around. With a 15-unit load, he is attending classes every day.
“I don’t work right now. I just want to focus on getting my future on track.”
“Drug dealing isn’t something I’d encourage someone to do,” Riley warned. “It takes a lot out of a person, mentally and physically. Always watching your back, wondering if everything is legit. Making sure that there aren’t any cops eyeing you down.”
“Everyone needs to make their own mistakes if that’s what it takes.”
“I deeply regret the pain I put myself through just to earn a few bucks.”
*Names in the story have been changed
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Once the main source of his income, Riley holds a nugget of marijuana. “Everything I bought with my money went towards something involving drugs,” he said. “Now I see how much of a waste it was.” ()
For many students, rolling marijuana into a joint is one of the more popular methods of consumption. ()
