SWIM's week

[asiaticdarkperson]

SWIM tells me that last week he got a call from a close friend. SWIM's friend wanted to know if SWIM had any cannabis. SWIM said he didn't, but knew a kid in his neighborhood who sold it. SWIM's friend asked him to buy some.

This was one of SWIM's very good friends so SWIM said no problem.

SWIM got on his phone and called the kid from his neighborhood, the dealer, and met up with him in the street. SWIM bought 2 grams of weed for 25,000 tomans (25 dollars last month; 12 dollars this month.) SWIM hadn't had any idea that the price of cannabis on the street was so high; he was shocked.

SWIM says he plants a dozen or so cannabis plants every year. He takes care of them and showers them with love and affection, but he also makes them endure drought and thirst. SWIM's plants usually grow to become trees over 9 feet tall, with many thick lateral branches. SWIM's plants are very potent too, because they grow at very high elevation in a sub-tropical zone where the sunshine is extremely intense. SWIM says that cannabis is a native of the high deserts of his country, and so it seems to thrive there better than anywhere else.

SWIM says the stuff they have over there is basically on par with the best cannabis in Amsterdam; but SWIM's weed is in a whole different class compared to what's available on the street. He's right, I've tried it.

So anyway, SWIM tells me that he's not a regular cannabis user himself, but he always has a few pounds lying around and he frequently gives it away to his friends. But when SWIM heard the street price he just couldn't pass up the opportunity.

SWIM asked the dealer, who is an old friend of SWIM's, if he wanted to buy 2lbs (a kilo) of good green? S., the dealer, said he had to try some first but if SWIM said it was good then he was definitely interested.

SWIM says a couple of nights later he drove up to his desert hideout and came back the next day with a kilogram of high quality cannabis.

SWIM says he called S. when he got to their neighborhood and went over to his house. S took the weed and payed SWIM 4,000,000 tomans (4,000 dollars last month; 2,000 dollars this month.) SWIM says the deal had been pre-arranged, of course.

SWIM says S called him today and wanted to see him. S picked up SWIM at his house. S has a pink Opel. When SWIM was comfortably seated in the car, S said that there were 3 customers waiting for him in the neighborhood, but it would only take a few minutes. SWIM says they drove around the neighborhood for a while and S sold about 150,000 tomans of cannabis to 4 customers. Then they went to play some pool.

SWIM says the reason S wanted to see him was to discuss a partnership. Apparently, S told SWIM that he would be willing to sell SWIM's cannabis for SWIM and split the profit 50-50. He told SWIM that this would be more profitable for both of them; but he would also buy SWIM's product by paying for it up front like last time if that's what SWIM preferred.

SWIM told S that he had to think about it.

SWIM says that 4 million tomans is enough money to cover his living expenses for a year.

SWIM says he doesn't sell illegal plants regularly, and that this occasion was a chance event that he couldn't refuse.

[asiaticdarkperson]

It's absolutely crazy. Everything in Iran is now literally half the price it was last month, but in effect the price of everything is doubled!

or is it??

wtf?!

[asiaticdarkperson]

I didn't really write this to brag so much as I did it to illustrate clearly how easy it is to make money.

And I'd like to thank our dear government for illegalizing some plants, thus making them expensive, thus making this easy money possible for all. Really, thank you.

[asiaticdarkperson]

And this is a true story, fyi.

[karlsie]

Some people like the high stakes risks of illegal drug trafficking, but i'd still prefer to see it legalized. It bugs me that people can be thrown in jail for nature's drugs, but they are allowed and encouraged to completely wipe out their mental capacity with prescription "medications". I hate prescription drugs, and most over the counter drugs as well. It takes two days for me to get over the hangover. It takes another two days before my mind is in motion again. Considering the number of people who pop cold medicines, pain pills, stimulants and suppressive drugs on a daily basis, i guess it isn't really surprising that we have a zombie society.

[asiaticdarkperson]

I don't know how high the risks really are. I'm not trying to encourage you to sell drugs or anything like that but I'm gunna state a few facts that I've learned.

The village that Parisa lives in has a population of about 4000. This small town houses over 20 drug dealers, mostly opium.

In my neighborhood in Tehran there are 2 meth dealers, 2 cannabis dealers, 2 opium dealers, 3 heroin and crack (freebase heroin + freebase methamphetamine, not crack cocaine) dealers and 2 hasheesh dealers.

These guys will all tell you that they pay off the police every once in a while, and otherwise try to keep a low profile; and business is very good. You see, it is in the police and the government's interest to receive a certain tax on this business, rather than busting dealers and throwing them in jail.

First of all, the prisons are always overcrowded in Iran and secondly, by locking up dealers they are in essence limiting their income.

The truth is, Iran is basically obligated by the UN to illegalize drugs if it wants to keep its membership in the united nations, because they signed some treaty on psychotropic substances. So drugs are "officially" illegal here, but it's painfully obvious that drug dealers (and prostitutes too) very rarely get busted around here.

I know a guy named Mohsen in a small city close to where Parisa lives. He sold alcohol, opium and hasheesh for years. Last year he was sentenced to 18 months because he refused to pay off the police; the cops were demanding more and more money and he decided not to cave in. This way when he gets out, he'll again be paying the old price.

One of my walnut trees is over 200 years old. It's an enormous ancient-looking tree that was planted by one of my ancestors. Last year this guy gave me 100kg (200lbs) of dried walnuts, and walnuts went for $7 per kilogram. Now, you should know that gathering walnuts off of a tree manually the way we do it here is an exceptionally difficult task; professional workers cost $70 per day, and this single tree took 2 hired laborers + my self working for a whole day. Then there's the fact that it takes a walnut tree at least 10 years to start yielding a noticeable quantity of fruit. Not to mention that walnut trees like a lot of manure and water.

So, this tree's yield amounted to $700.

Two large cannabis plants are guaranteed to yield 1kg of smokable bud. Cannabis is planted in the spring and it dies in late autumn; it grows to a height of 8-9 feet in a growing season. It doesn't need too much water, it actually prefers periods of drought. It also doesn't need a lot of fertilizer or manure; just loose well drained soil. Compared to walnuts, there is practically no work involved in growing cannabis, and growing cannabis is very enjoyable.

1kg of cannabis (bulk) is worth $4000 on the street; the dealer who distributes it to customers sells it for $12,000.

A metric ton of walnuts is worth $7,000.

As I said, I'm really not trying to make any point here. Just stating some facts.

[karlsie]

Well, we do have somewhat restrictive drug laws, all of which are a bit peculiar. It's legal to smoke marijuana. It's legal to cultivate a limited amount; up to ten plants for personal use. It's not legal to sell it. Dealers just selling ounces broken into eighths are very liable to getting busted, but you can own up to a quarter pound of your own as long as it's not broken up into smaller units.

There is no such thing as paying off the police under the table. Your payment comes in formal requirements for permits. Growers are rarely busted, especially if they cover their act by garnishing a few medical permits from their clients. However, the concentration on busting marijuana dealers is greater than the concentration placed on the highly poisonous methamphetamine trade. The solution to the meth trade has been weird. Popular items for cooking meth, such as a number of over the counter cold remedies, have been taken off the shelf, although the bathtub chemist is generally left alone. If a house explodes due to these bathtub concoctions, the general conclusion is... it was unfortunate. Never mind the innocent apartment owners who lost their homes because someone in the complex had been cooking meth. Maybe it's because meth users don't have long life expectancies, and marijuana smokers seem to stick around forever.

Growing marijuana in Alaska, i might add, is a bit expensive. We don't have a long enough growing season, so plants either need to be started indoors and brought out in the spring, or brought inside during the last three months so it will mature. Either way, it drives up energy costs. A lot of growers do all their cultivating inside. This helps prevent the destruction by aphids or spider mites, plus insures the plants are not exposed to the males.

Opium producing poppies can grow here, although we have laws against their cultivation. However, i'm not sure Alaskans know anything about poppy cultivation and do not know the difference between a California poppy or an Icelandic one. I have seen Oriental poppies for sale in the local greenhouses, and i know a man who puts out a row of Oriental poppies, capable of producing opiates, in his flower garden each spring, but i have no idea whether or not he collects the opiate properties, just likes the way they look, or puts them out as an act of rebellion. He's an old guy who pretty much says and does what he pleases. Nobody has the nerve to say otherwise because he's an angry Scotsman.

I actually think gold panning brings more value profit to an Alaskan than selling drugs. It's a legal enterprise. It has a thriving market. If you find an ounce of gold per week, you are making as much profit as the average marijuana dealer makes in a month. It's back breaking work; i kid you not; and unless you know what you're doing, all you're going to accomplish is blisters, but i know people who started their own licensed businesses from their gold earnings. I don't know anyone who successfully started a licensed business from drug dealing. Up here, where you'd be hard put to find any family that doesn't have at least one drug user, and where you'd probably find a grower in at least one of every five houses, drug sales are still not a very profitable business.

[asiaticdarkperson]

Feb 26, 2012 21:18:42 GMT -5 karlsie said:

There is no such thing as paying off the police under the table.

In Iran everyone can be payed off under the table. And it's not really considered bribery. It's payment for service. People in positions of power get a salary + payments that they get directly from people to pay special attention to their case and solve their problems.

And this works pretty much everywhere here.