Posted on 10/06/2005 5:59:44 PM PDT by A CA Guy
Nate Norman was hanging out with his buddy Topher Clark when he came up with The Idea.
At the time, Nate was a nineteen-year-old high school dropout who worked at a Pizza Hut in Coeur D'Alene -- a gorgeous but dull resort town in Idaho -- and sold the occasional dime bag on the side. Chubby and baby-faced, Nate had never been the type to come up with a million-dollar brainstorm. "He was one of those guys everybody used to pick on," says his friend Scuzz -- Ben Scozzaro, a year ahead of Nate at Coeur D'Alene High. "He looks like the Keebler Elf. That's what we used to call him, actually." Nor was Nate much of a scholar. His girlfriend Buffy once received a letter in which Nate spelled "pot" with an extra "t." "He can't spell 'marijuana,' either," she adds.
Things happened quickly after that. Suddenly, Nate and Topher and all of their friends had more cash than they'd ever dreamed of, along with expensive cars, hot girlfriends and fancy lakefront homes. And then, just as quickly, they began to lose control. Harder drugs, guns, paranoia, eventually violence -- it was like a movie, everyone agrees. "Mini-Scarface," chuckles Nate's lawyer Frank Cikutovich.
Topher is sitting, at the moment, in the visiting room of a federal prison in Terminal Island, California. He's a big guy, with solid arms and blocky features. Outside, there are palm trees in the parking lot and a decent view of the harbor. "When I heard about the Butler kid, I just wanted out," he says. He attempts a smile, but his eyes do not cooperate, the final effect being more of a pained wince. "I was like, this is pot, right?' This isn't supposed to happen. No one's supposed to die."
(Excerpt) Read more at rollingstone.com ...
We don't need recreational drugs... This story sure reflects also the need to guard our borders, including the nothern one.
mothers milk is rhe gateway drug
the
Mother's milk could be a gateway drug if the mother is a user and breastfeeds her baby while using.
We agree 100%.
I would much rather be around people stoned on cannabis than loaded on liquor. The crime, violence etc. are a result of prohibition. You can't stop drug use no matter what you try. It is human nature. Your position is absolutely indefensible. All drugs should be re-legalized and the prisons emptied. Take the resources squandered on the insane WOD and apply them to securing our borders and working towards energy self sufficiency. Prohibition is an utter and complete failure. By what right do you claim to dictate to people what they do with their own bodies?
Wrong. It's a story of how the criminalization of drugs creates a strong profit motive for dealing on the black market and enriches many who decide to try it out.
Marijuana's connection to crime, violence etc. is secured by making it illegal, just like making ethanol drinks illegal during Prohibition created all the violence, gangs & turf wars that surrounded bootlegging.
The drug running violence is really your, and your WOD buddie's, creation.
If pot were legalized all the violence & gangsterism that is connected with it would evaporate.
Hell, we all know ppl who totally lose it and do any drug you put in front of them. Then again, we also know ppl who smoke a joint on Sunday in the parking lot of the NFL football game just like he was having a six pack.
Drugs are a crutch for people who can't handle the rush of having grandchildren!
Just another story of Prohibition as the gateway to major profits -- and serious criminality.
It is a load of crap story from a load of crap publication that is funded by people that buy loads of crap and live in a world that is "loaded" on their own loads of crap.
TT
The whole drug war is an idiots battle. We need to immediately stop the war and free all those who are in prison for possession or sale of drugs unless it is to a minor. We need to decriminalize any and all drugs and stop the stupidity. We have lost incredible amount of civil rights because of this war, and have empowered the Federal Government with policing powers that would never have been given to them otherwise.
It only took the last supreme court decision on someone growing pot in their backyard for their own usage to make it clear, using the drug war and laws concerning it the Federal Government will intrude into each and every life that it can get a perch or hold on.
By the way, will they ever win the war? No. It will only serve to keep us paying or the federal alphabet soup of police to keep us in bondage to a bloated federal government.
It's the easy money that was the gateway to the bad things that happened to those guys. The lust for the money. Pot is certainly more natural and more harmless than booze. Period. (I'll bet that chubby, baby faced pizza delivery boy is having tons of fun in jail right now)
I'm with you that if someone abuses alcohol as you describe, that is as bad as pot or other drugs.
In addition to a continued shunning of recreational drugs, do you suggest there should be more firm restrictions regarding alcohol over what is there now as well?
Yeah, it's like he came too far too fast, and being a dork, couldn't handle it. Some ppl have the survival instinct, and some don't. Was it the coke that did Tony Montana in, or was it his lust?
The most intelligent comment on this thus far. If we made alcohol illegal is there any doubt the same thing wouldn't be happening? Wait, I believe we have history to look at for that one. The 'war on drugs' is a complete and total failure, and only promotes a police state, and diverts attention away from where it needs to be. Terrorism anyone?
As always on this type of thread I must add the following disclaimer:
No, I don't use drugs
The story is about the death, violence around drugs like pot as well as how he tried to grow addiction in America.
It is better to never start into the stuff and try some conservative adventure like starting a legitimate business after gathering some marketable skills.
I object to it on so many levels.
Then there are also the regular addicted users.
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