# Would you start selling dope to make ends meet? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 20, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589 "2011-05-20T16:44:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/1 "2011-05-20T16:44:50Z")
Near where I live, there is a family. The father, in his early 50’s, passed away abruptly about 3 years ago. They live in a $400-500k home in a nice subdivision. They had two kids, daughter and son, 19 and 17, respectively. The husband apparently had no life insurance, and the mom in her late 40’s must have been a Showtime subscriber, because she took a page directly from the show _Weeds_, and started growing and distributing marijuana. She enlisted the kids in her new business venture, to keep the house and the current standard of living. So would you do something similar, to keep your current lifestyle? Would you even consider it? The family in my 1st paragraph have been busted. Apparently the son, got shot in the hand, during a robbery drug transaction gone bad. You can’t just show up at the ER with a gunshot wound, so they called 911 to report a robbery and shooting. When the police showed up to investigate, somehow, they discovered the huge grow operation in their 4,000 square foot home. I wonder what dearly departed Dad would think. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/2 "2011-05-20T16:46:39Z")
Absolutely not. It’s morally wrong and illegal. Selling drugs is, one way or the other, eventually going to ruin your life, with some combination of turf wars with other dealers, addiction, family disintegration, paranoia, prosecution, fines, prison, etc. No, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/3 "2011-05-20T16:49:40Z")
I wouldn’t do it on the facts presented. They should have adjusted their standard of living to their new circumstances rather than going outlaw. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/4 "2011-05-20T16:57:09Z")
I’d think about it. You read about situations like the OP, but you don’t read about the grow ops that are done with extreme caution, where sales are isolated from production. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/5 "2011-05-20T16:59:40Z")
Hell yes. But not if I had kids. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/6 "2011-05-20T16:59:45Z")
No, I’d probably do something far more sensible like becoming a male prostitute or opening my house to a reality TV show or better yet, selling all my vital organs. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/7 "2011-05-20T17:06:06Z")
I certainly wouldn’t in the States. Here, maybe if I was in really dire straits and the opportunity arose but probably not. More hassle than it’s worth IMO and you’d have to deal with all kind of gobshites(~morons). ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/8 "2011-05-20T17:16:34Z")
I’d probably start small at first, trying to find other ways to make money. For the first batch of customers, I’d give them special titles and let them buy for half price–for as long as they bought at least once a year. Everyone else would have to pay full price though. But as I said, I’d much rather find other revenue streams, and would likely go back to giving it away for free as soon as I could. I’d still let some people pay to avoid the hassle of trying to sell them other stuff, but hopefully in the long run things would reach a good equilibrium. _Ain’t no party like a SDMB party…_ ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/9 "2011-05-20T17:21:11Z")
Of course. Been there, done that. (Years ago). Only problem was, no big $$. If memory serves, net income was around $5000/year. A nice little nest egg to be sure, but a far cry from great wealth. And, for he record, I declared the money (though not the source) and paid income tax on it. I have no moral problems with cannabis, the use and production thereof, nor with breaking the stupid and arcane laws that prohibit it. And I despise the fact that the police and media trumpet every grower-bust as having _ **MILLION$$$$** _ in “street value”, when in fact their “estimate” is based on an absolute best-case high-value scenario which most weed never obtains and which in any case never accrues to any one individual, and certainly not to the grower. At the same time, my conscience would never allow me to operate, say, a meth lab or sell cocaine to kids, although I might consider running a backwoods whiskey still if there was any money in it;) SS ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/10 "2011-05-20T17:31:13Z")
Depends. In order to sustain [what I consider] an upper-middle-class standard of living? No. In order to pay the elctric bill? Sure. My [del]dealer[/del] independent pharmaceutical contractor has a good job and makes decent money. He just likes having some extra bucks to blow on… whatever the hell he blows his money on. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/11 "2011-05-21T00:28:37Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > My [del]dealer[/del] independent pharmaceutical contractor has a good job and makes decent money. He just likes having some extra bucks to blow on… whatever the hell he blows his money on. Although I recognize that any thread about illegal drugs[sup]1[/sup] can make posts of this kind almost inevitable, please keep in mind our [rules](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7696990&postcount=5) about discussing current illicit drug use: > [@](#): > > Drugs that are illegal in the US: You may discuss the effects of drugs, but not where to obtain them. Limited discussion of past use of drugs is OK, but discussion of current use is not. Please include a disclaimer that the drug is illegal in the US. No warning issued, but please keep this in mind. [sup]1[/sup]While recognizing that selling and using cannabis for medicinal purposes is legal under the laws of some states, and carried on there openly, it’s still technically illegal under Federal law. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/12 "2011-05-21T01:45:04Z")
No. Apart from the immorality/illegality aspect, there are plenty of legal jobs available. ---
**Author:** ![surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/surrounded_by_literalists)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/13 "2011-05-21T01:59:32Z")
Trying to send a kid to college. Lost my job. Two kids - two ER visits. Defunct fuel pump on van. Can’t afford to buy graduation gown for my HS senior (honor student), she will not be allowed to walk in graduation. Can’t afford cleats for son to finish baseball season. I often look at son’s Adderall perscription and wonder ‘How much could I get for these?’ I would have been the first one to say I would never, until I watched my HS senior try not to cry when all her friends recieved their graduation gowns from the distributor and she didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/14 "2011-05-21T02:08:20Z")
To keep my current lifestyle ? No. The whole jail, criminal record is a big enough deterrent for me. I’m not very materialistic so I would adapt. If I was in the scenario described in the OP. I would sell the house get a smaller one or an appartment and start over. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/15 "2011-05-21T02:43:36Z")
I was just reading about [this young mom who was murdered by some scumbugs who apparently wanted to steal the drugs she was dealing while her boyfriend was in prison on drug charges](http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_0513friend_maine_moms_kin_shocked_by_drug_revelations/srvc=home&position=5). There is so much violence surrounding the illegal drug trade, I would not want to put myself at risk by hanging around drug dealers or drug addicts. I am in the medical field, so I do come in contact with a fair number of people with substance abuse problems. It is just staggering to me how much suffering occurs because of drugs (including legal ones like alcohol and cigarettes). I don’t want any part of that. There are other ways to make money. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/16 "2011-05-21T03:30:58Z")
I have nothing against marijuana, and think it should be legalized, but no, I wouldn’t do this. It’s the safety thing, and to drag my kids into that…no. I mean, did she only watch the first season of _Weeds_, or what? 'Cause it gets pretty damn dark after that… ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/17 "2011-05-21T05:52:14Z")
My husband was stationed overseas for a few years, while he was in the Air Force. I married him and was overseas for a couple of years myself. I’ve never seriously smoked anything. And that’s relevant. At the time, service members and their spouses were issued ration cards to purchase cigarettes (and, I believe, alcohol) on base, at a dramatically lower price than the regular price off base. Everyone, including my husband’s NCO, was telling us that we should buy cigarettes on my ration card at the base store and sell them off base to make money. Apparently, we could have made quite a lot of money from this, enough that we wouldn’t have had to scrimp and stretch every penny. I feel very frustrated that this was so commonplace, and that my husband’s supervisors advised us to do it. It seems that virtue is NOT its own reward, at all. My grandfather and a couple of my uncles were rumrunners during Prohibition, and were very low level Mafia members. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/18 "2011-05-21T07:13:04Z")
Would I? _looks around furtively_ Why, what did you hear? But seriously, if had a family to feed I would do it. I don’t know if it’s just a Pacific Northwest thing, but all of the dealers I’ve known in my life were all laid back granola types, or just mellow in general. None were certainly the crazy paranoid gun toting gangbangas like the media likes to portray. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/19 "2011-05-21T07:30:11Z")
**Omar** , love the user name/OP combo! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589/20 "2011-05-21T07:32:12Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > My husband was stationed overseas for a few years, while he was in the Air Force. I married him and was overseas for a couple of years myself. I’ve never seriously smoked anything. And that’s relevant. At the time, service members and their spouses were issued ration cards to purchase cigarettes (and, I believe, alcohol) on base, at a dramatically lower price than the regular price off base. Everyone, including my husband’s NCO, was telling us that we should buy cigarettes on my ration card at the base store and sell them off base to make money. Apparently, we could have made quite a lot of money from this, enough that we wouldn’t have had to scrimp and stretch every penny. I find it hard to understand why buying a legal substance for X and selling it for higher price Y is something to avoid. What’s the difference between your opportunity and any other profit making enterprise? What was going through you mind when you refused to do this? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-start-selling-dope-to-make-ends-meet/582589.md?page=2)