VOICES A SELLER’S VIEW : No Havanas but Much Cocaine

The young dealer moves fast down the South Los Angeles street. Dressed in khakis, beat-up tennis shoes and a torn blue ski jacket, he’s doing his best to remain inconspicious. His eyes dart here and there. The dealer, who talks almost as fast as he walks, refused to give his name. He was interviewed by Times staff writer Darrell Dawsey.

I think drugs are here to kill people. From a political standpoint, this (genocide through drug legalization) is planned. How is it that you can’t get a Cuban cigar in this country, but all this cocaine is available? They can send a space shuttle to the moon, but they can’t stop drugs? I don’t believe that, cuz.

I don’t think anybody is wrong (for abusing drugs). People like to pick on the people at the bottom, but whose fault is it that there’s a drug problem? This great country of ours don’t give a damn.

They’re hypocrites in Washington. I’ve been selling drugs for the past few years. I ain’t never seen nothing like this. Drugs in the ‘70s wasn’t s---, because it was mostly a ghetto thing. But now, you got people from all over coming around here buying drugs. You get all kinds of cars, Volvos, BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes.

Why do I sell it? I sell it because I don’t have any other way to get money. I’ll tell you right now, I’m not making a lot of money. Some of my homeboys, they make a little money, but ain’t nobody getting a whole lot of money like people think. Honestly. People think drug dealers make all this money, but it takes a long time to make serious money.

You do it because you hope you can get that money. But you can’t really make a whole lot right off the bat.

But there ain’t no jobs out here. What am I supposed to do? I don’t really like this, because anything can happen. I can get shot or killed. People I know get jacked all the time. It ain’t like I can’t get jacked, too. But I got to do something.