Question about college and drugs

[manyeyedhydra]

Hiya, I'm in the middle of a short story and have some research questions I wonder if anyone could help me with.

First the easy one that I probably should have looked up.

My characters are around 19 and reasonably smart. Where would that put them in the US education system? College? University?

Next, the tricky one.

The characters are wannabe drug dealers. Basically the type that takes dope (and maybe a bit of coke) recreationally and then realises they could probably make a buck or three selling to the richer kids at the college/university.

How much cannabis (in weight) or cocaine (in weight) could they reasonably expect to sell in a week or a month assuming they're in the position to supply the majority of the college?

The setup for the story is the pair trying to arrange a deal with a local crimelord to act as a source and I don't want to come off looking sily if I mention amounts that are either too small for even personal use or large enough to constitute a major shipment from Colombia

(the deal goes badly wrong for our young entrepeneurs)

thanks

 

[slyc_willie]

For the most part, the terms "college" and "university" are interchangeable in the US. At nineteen, assuming they went straight to secondary education after graduating high school, they would probably be college/university sophomores.

I don't know a whole lot about the drug culture, since I don't partake. But I do know that any little ol' campus already has its drug dealers, who have been there since, oh, about five minutes after the campus first started accepting students.

 

[driphoney]

Slyc's right. We apply the word 'college' casually to all post high school education. We don't ever say 'uni' or "I go to university." We go to 'college' or 'school'. However, a university is made up of several schools and colleges, whereas a small college is just a ... college! So, if your students (assholes!) are going to a small school, you should only use the word 'college.'

As for the whole drug thing ... can't help ya there.

 

[manyeyedhydra]

Cheers. I had a hunch college would be the correct term but wasn't sure.

I suspect I may have to do the classic fade out the particulars of the deal in this case.

The only drug that ever interested me was beer

 

[slyc_willie]

Cheers. I had a hunch college would be the correct term but wasn't sure.

I suspect I may have to do the classic fade out the particulars of the deal in this case.

The only drug that ever interested me was beer

Same here. But you don't necessarily have to give details on the amount/size/weight of the marijuana sold. Readers who know about such things will have their own ideas already.

 

[Trudy_Antone]

Hi Manyeyedhydra,

So I've had a misspent youth... It's been a few years since I indulged but I think I can help you here...

Back when I was 19 there were few of us that could afford an ounce of marijuana unless we all went in on it together. Bearing in mind that we were all poor students at uni, the norm was a $50 (2 gram) bag. $25's (1 gram) have all but disappeared off the planet given the legal problems involved in growing the shit. An ounce of 'mull' is usually around $400 Australian (today's prices and hydroponically grown). Ounces are called ounces but generally weigh anywhere between 28-32 grams. The bags weigh a couple of grams so anything under 30 is a rip-off. Then again, there is no government regulation, and no quality control so you get what you get and are damned happy with it! An ounce CAN be smoked in a week but not usually by college smokers rich or not. We're talking serious daily deviants or a weekend of super partying involving lots of people. Your protagonists would make a lot more money if they sold it in small bags. You could have them refusing to sell big bags. The bigger you buy the less it costs. Pounds usually go for a couple of grand but no recreational smoker would think that large, that's generally dealer territory. Look up some dutch seed sites to check out the varieties available - hydroponic growers can command top dollar for certain strains.

As to coke, again in Australian dollars, this is usually sold in points (a tenth of a gram and can cost anywhere from $300 to $1000 depending on quality and source). You could have your dealers 'cutting' it with glucose to make more money. A full gram of coke is probably cheap in the states but here in Aus it's only cheap if you're a bikie or a bikie mole. People get seriously peed off if the dealer gets greedy and puts too much sugar in it - that could be a little repercussion to throw in just for fun. That can happen because the dealer's helping themselves to the profit. One last thing - a way to test it for purity is how quickly it dissolves in water leaving no residue.

Well, I think I've given myself away but rest assured, I may have indulged slightly but I never dealt drugs, I left that to the professionals!

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

Never one to partake myself, I was part of a fraternity where it was pretty common.

If your University had fraternities and sororities, it's a built in distribution mechanism. You can sell in 'bulk' to the frats and let them handle the distribution internally. They also commonly have more money than the average student, or at least it was that way at the two I went to.

Again, if your university or college is a big name, big bucks U., money is often commonly available. Get access to the fraternity top level officers, and you have access to all 30-100 members. At one school, we had a pretty well known off-campus frat that was where all the druggies joined. Their parties were off the wall, and they were known to supply a major percentage of the campus.

Of course, 30 years later, who knows how it works now-a-days!

 

[DeeZire]

Right now, because it's out of season, kick ass pot can go for as much as $125 for a quarter ounce. If you figure 2 out of ten students might be looking to score, and if they've got daddy's money to spend, you could estimate a quarter ounce per customer per week. However, as others have mentioned, the existing dealers would not welcome new competition.

Ecstasy is big on campus these days. I would think a few minutes spent with Google would give you a wealth of information on the subject. Or go over to the High Times website and lurk.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

New York City has a bit of a ridiculous distribution system. Some kids in the suburbs sell their stuff to dealers in the city that sell it right back to dumb kids from the suburbs. Just something to consider if any of your characters are from this area.

 

[3113]

There are two types of "College" that students typically go to in the U.S. Most students graduate high school at the end of their 17th year and enter college at age 18 (legal adult age in the U.S.) as freshmen. If they're either not rich or can't get a loan or scholarship because their grades weren't good enough, they'll go to a community college which has cheap, affordable classes (subsidized by the state), and/or is a stepping stone to big universities. Meaning they can take all those boring classes at the community college that they have to get out of the way like basic essay writing, so they're fit and ready for the big university.

Universities are not cheap. They can cost a ton and parents either have to have money (in which case the student has money to burn) or have saved up for their kids college fund over years. If not, then the students is there on loan or scholarship and might have a part-time job to pay for other things. Which makes for a good excuse for the drug dealing.

There are 4 ways students can live when going to college: At home with the parents if parents are in range (typical with community college students), off campus with roommates (their own apartment which they pay for. This may be school housing--on the edge of campus and made available by the school--or a near campus apartment, or a house/part of a house rented out by the homeowner), at a dorm on campus with a roommate (dorm means the place is run by the school), Fraternity/Sorority. Some schools, like U.C. Berkley, still have communes from the 60's. Your would-be students are likely off-campus roommates unless you want to write up a Frat story. Dealing drugs in the dorms may not be hard, but living and dealing in the dorms could be tricky.

Now as to the drugs, I think I mentioned in another thread my most memorable college moment when I stayed with a friend at her brother's off campus place (4 roommates--they had almost no furniture and a chandelier made of beer bottles); the brother had a crop of weed growing under a blacklight in the closet. Home grown is the way to go. Organic, too.

Keep in mind that if your students go to school in California, it's now become very easy to get grass here (actually, it's always been easy here) as there are medical marijuana distributors. So your dealers would have a lot of competition and probably not make much money. Where were you planing on setting this story? You don't have to name a specific state, but which part of the U.S.? East coast (usually associated with Ivy Leagues), Midwest, Northern, the South, Southwest, West coast?

 

[manyeyedhydra]

Universities are not cheap. They can cost a ton and parents either have to have money (in which case the student has money to burn) or have saved up for their kids college fund over years. If not, then the students is there on loan or scholarship and might have a part-time job to pay for other things. Which makes for a good excuse for the drug dealing.

Ah, thanks for reminding me of the question I forgot to ask. That is indeed the motivation for one of the characters. Are scholarships (academic) something that can only be picked up on graduating high school or later as well? I have the main character wrestling with the risk of what they're doing, and justifying it through the thought he can eliminate his money worries so he'd only need to concentrate on studying with the aim of getting into one of the bigger universities.

Thanks for the help all.

 

[pointless]

they'd never be able to be the main supplier. i lived in a college town(a small college in a small city) and there was no main supplier. when i sold breifly i made between $10 and $15 a quarter in pure profit and if i sold acid for $5 dollars a hit that was about $4 dollars in profit(i was very lucky there) and i made about $200 a week before the acid while smoking a lot of my stuff. i didn't make much after the acid because of certain issues that arose that force me to stop and move out of state, but yeah... weight wise i'd guess i sold about... shit, i have no idea. i was far too stoned to care and i'm way too tired to do the math right now.

and coke can be hard to get in bulk and if you can't get it in bulk you can't make money.

at least in my experience. still, you can sell an 8 ball (2.5 grams)for $200 most places, so if you can get it you can make money. you'd probably have to cut the hell out of it, though.

 

[glynndah]

I went to college back in the days of the nickel bag, so any knowledge I might have is seriously outdated.

 

[pointless]

I went to college back in the days of the nickel bag, so any knowledge I might have is seriously outdated.

they still nickel bags. they're called joints and buying too many of them will make the dealer stop answering your phone calls.

 

[glynndah]

they still nickel bags. they're called joints and buying too many of them will make the dealer stop answering your phone calls.

A ziploc baggie full of weed and one joint are not the same things.

Kids these days!

 

[pointless]

A ziploc baggie full of weed and one joint are not the same things.

Kids these days!

blame inflation.

 

[3113]

Ah, thanks for reminding me of the question I forgot to ask. That is indeed the motivation for one of the characters. Are scholarships (academic) something that can only be picked up on graduating high school or later as well?

Most scholarships are snagged by high school grads, though there is the odd scholarships out there that is left unclaimed, but let's start from the beginning. You're a high school senior. Two questions: (1) Have your parents saved up tuition for college and (2) How have your grades been?

If you've been getting not-so-good grades then likely you will go to community college in your area and continue to live with your parents until you've punched up your academic profile and can transfer to a big name university. This, by the way, is usually about 2 years schooling, which leaves you with 2 more to go undergraduate at the university. Now under those circumstances, it's unlikely that you're going to find a scholarship. Most scholarships are snapped up right away by promising high school graduates. Like, say, that girl who lived on the street and then in foster care but still managed to get straight A's and be valedictorian of her graduating class. Also, there is the question of just how poor are you? Why, after all, should the scholarship people give this money to you, who might have other ways of getting the money for college, rather than the really poor student who hasn't a chance without this scholarship?

Which means what's left for you is either your parents paying for the university, or college loans. Which you'll be paying off for a while. HOWEVER, Even if your grades were good, and you got into the University right out of high school, and your parents have saved up, they may have saved up only enough for the education. Meaning they've little to no money to give you to pay the rent you owe for your share of that house you and your four buddies are living in. And you can't buy clothes, liquor, take a girl on a date. You're living on cheap fast food and Top Ramen. That means you either get a part-time job or, yes, do a little drug dealing--for pocket money.

 

[freshface]

Ah, thanks for reminding me of the question I forgot to ask. That is indeed the motivation for one of the characters. Are scholarships (academic) something that can only be picked up on graduating high school or later as well? I have the main character wrestling with the risk of what they're doing, and justifying it through the thought he can eliminate his money worries so he'd only need to concentrate on studying with the aim of getting into one of the bigger universities.

Thanks for the help all.

Scholarships can be picked up in high school or once in college. It's only a very lucky student who gets a scholarship that covers all of the expenses. Usually, it's cobbling together scholarships, student loans, grants, help from the folks, and odd jobs. Lots of US students graduate with a crushing student debt, so dealing drugs to pay for tuition, books, student fees, parking, lab fees etc. is very reasonable. And, of course, they would also need funds for food, rent, and suitable entertainment.

Rather than worrying about weight/price for coke or pot, you might send them on the pill circuit. As someone else mentioned, club drugs are the rage these days on campus. Uppers to keep you awake when you study, downers to help you sleep, Ecstasy (X) for parties, you could have your students selling a whole pharmacy with a pill for every occasion. Sorry, but I had a pure and innocent youth, so I can't help you with a street price for any of this.

 

[pointless]

Scholarships can be picked up in high school or once in college. It's only a very lucky student who gets a scholarship that covers all of the expenses. Usually, it's cobbling together scholarships, student loans, grants, help from the folks, and odd jobs. Lots of US students graduate with a crushing student debt, so dealing drugs to pay for tuition, books, student fees, parking, lab fees etc. is very reasonable. And, of course, they would also need funds for food, rent, and suitable entertainment.

Rather than worrying about weight/price for coke or pot, you might send them on the pill circuit. As someone else mentioned, club drugs are the rage these days on campus. Uppers to keep you awake when you study, downers to help you sleep, Ecstasy (X) for parties, you could have your students selling a whole pharmacy with a pill for every occasion. Sorry, but I had a pure and innocent youth, so I can't help you with a street price for any of this.

last i heard adderall can get about five dollars a pill, same for rits(ritalin, but most don't use that anymore). x varies a great deal. i never did it, but i've heard any where from $15 to $50 for a pill depending on how many and where you buy it. about ten years ago oxycontin was going for a $10 per 10 mg in a pill. regular old vicodins go for about two to five a pill.

oh and quarter ounce bag of weed last i bought one was $30 for okay smoke. you can also pay up to $40 for the same quality if it's hard to get or buying down the chain. yeah, weed isn't very profitable unless you grow it or you can get it from someone who does.

of course, these prices are from about two years ago when i was still using regularly. except the weed. that's about a month and half old and the price has been constant for awhile around where i live.

 

[penandpaper]

Can't help you with the drug weights and price as I've never done them. But, I do have a suggestion or two you may find helpful.

I think I would make them biology majors, or some other equivalent where they could get their hands on some hydroponic systems. In this way, you might add a bit of realism rather than them buying huge amounts from a supplier.

As far as coke, I'm not so sure very many college students use it. (I knew none when I went.) Maybe go the prescription drug route through Mexico or something. It might give them a good little exciting side trip across the border. Again, I'm just trying to add a touch of realism, as I don't know many Freshman/Sophmores that could take over the drug dealer on campus and start a whole distribution racket after only one year there. Just a thought.

 

[3113]

Rather than worrying about weight/price for coke or pot, you might send them on the pill circuit. As someone else mentioned, club drugs are the rage these days on campus. Uppers to keep you awake when you study, downers to help you sleep, Ecstasy (X) for parties, you could have your students selling a whole pharmacy with a pill for every occasion.

Great idea, FF! If I were writing the story I'd go that way.

 

[freshface]

Great idea, FF! If I were writing the story I'd go that way.

As an extra bonus, it gives our heroes a reason to go to all sorts of places that no self respecting stoner would visit, like libraries and labs.

"Honest, this one will help you study for that test. And take our word for it, you'll need this one for after, to help you sleep."

 

[Verdad]

Rather than worrying about weight/price for coke or pot, you might send them on the pill circuit. As someone else mentioned, club drugs are the rage these days on campus. Uppers to keep you awake when you study, downers to help you sleep, Ecstasy (X) for parties, you could have your students selling a whole pharmacy with a pill for every occasion. Sorry, but I had a pure and innocent youth, so I can't help you with a street price for any of this.

I too second this. E's were in and mj was kinda quaint already in my time. If you want a contemporary feel, go with pills. Sorry I can't help with prices, though.