Another Myth: The Murderous Drug Dealer

Some months ago, right before the pandemic hit, I was happily ensconced in my housing unit’s dayroom in front of the TV, and the old Spielberg classic ‘The Goonies’ came on. 

Now, this was a seminal movie that shaped much of my own childhood--I always wanted to be Data, and spent years afterwards crafting creaky ‘gadgets,’ which generally didn’t work--and I was excited, because I’d soon be headed home, and had been compiling a list of must-watch movies to share with my daughter. (Who better to introduce this youngster to the exciting world of '80s culture?)

 

So, with an array of cell-made, local-commissary-sourced healthy snacks spread in front of me, I settled in to relive a little of my own childhood. I cheered at the cinematic opening chase scene, laughed when Chunk squished his strawberry shake against the plate-glass window, watching the Fratellis speed by, hapless cops in pursuit. I cringed a little when the next scene came on, the one I’d forgotten (and maybe you have too), about the broken sculpture in the Walsh living room, and Brand and Mikey’s inept attempts to fix it by gluing David’s separated penis back on--upside down. (I briefly reconsidered my thoughts about screening this film with my little one, but eventually shrugged off concerns about awkward plumbing questions.)

 

But a commercial break or two later came the scene which inspired, in part, this (admittedly overlong) column intro—where the boys follow Chester Copperpot’s treasure map to the abandoned oceanside restaurant, and lay in the grass in fear, speculating about what evil may lurk in the nefarious-looking lair.

 

“Maybe it’s drug dealers!” says one of them, I think Chunk. “Oh, I don’t wanna get murdered!”

 

And, yep, that’s it. The crux of this week/month’s column. The Myth of the Murderous Drug Dealer. A cultural trope that’s be now been so ingrained in us that its truth feels inarguable. Except… I kinda know it isn’t.

 

Now, re-watching ‘The Goonies’ wasn’t the first time this had occurred to me; not by a long shot. In fact, I’d mostly filed the incident away (and dropped the movie down a few notches on my ‘binge-with-bunny’ list. But then, this past weekend, I was scrolling thru Netflix, looking for action thrillers to watch with my Mom (it seems to be the only genre besides Insufferable Christmas Flick that interests her lately). And I kept coming across the same damn thing, movie after movie: “Evil drug dealers take over a Texas town…”, “A dangerous drug gang is hiding out in John’s hunting cabin in the woods…”, “Drug dealers [inexplicably] invade a family’s home and…” whatever.

 

Enough already!

 

Okay--this is *not* to say that people in the drug trade, certain people, are not dangerous, and do not engage in homicide far more than the average Joe. They do. The shocking violence of the cartels down in Mexico is undeniable, as are the many turf shootings associated with street-level, inner-city drug trade. But! I’ve made the point before that legalization/decriminalization goes a long way towards solving both of those ills. And, more germane to day’s discourse, the vast majority of what our criminal justice system calls ‘drug dealers’ is far, far removed from that archetype.

 

We’ve expanded the legal definition of ‘drug dealer’ to include nearly everyone who uses drugs. Pass a joint at a party, you’re technically a drug dealer, by law. Now, most drug distribution convictions aren’t that innocent (although I bet the amount that are would surprise you).  But, more than half of drug arrests involve a gram or less--and over 3/4ths are under 5 grams. (And! Of the roughly 17% of arrests that are about more than a teaspoon-full of hard drugs, a significant percentage are ‘Ghost Dope’ cases, where the drugs attributed to an offender are theoretical.)

 

More fun facts:

·      Nearly 2 million people are in prison, on parole or probation for drug offenses in this country.

·      For some reason I cannot comprehend, the average sentences for drug crimes and violent crimes--actual crimes *of violence*--are nearly the same!

·      Drug incarceration costs America over $10 billion annually.  

 

Most ‘dealers’ are users themselves (and we know this); most people arrested for dealing are people who buy a few grams here (and I mean *a few*), and sell them back to a few friends over there, with the goal of skimming a hit and a few dollars for themselves from the transaction.

 

I know this, because I was one. And because, when I served my four years for it, I met countless others like me--way more than I saw any cartel guys or big-time gangbangers, for sure.

 

Very few of these guys were violent--far less, anyway, then the paramilitary types hired to ‘guard’ them. Those who were, usually engaged in violence in self-defense. (Criminalization has turned the drug trade into such a high-dollar business that it naturally attracts predators--truth is, the vast majority of violent guys I knew in prison were not drug dealers; they were guys who *robbed* drug dealers.)

 

So, we’ve turned what’s really a medical and societal crisis--drug abuse--into a stigma of violence, and a lot of that attitude stems from popular fiction and film. What do you think of when you hear the term ‘drug dealer?’ Do you think of some well-armed, ruthless gang, ready to kill and maim? (Killing, by the way, is kinda anathema to the whole drug trade thing… Customers can’t buy drugs when they’re dead.) Or, do you think of some lonely user, living probably hand-to-mouth and keeping him- or herself well via the only means possible?

 

Maybe this is just a personal pet peeve, without the far-reaching consequences I attribute to it. But it’s something I’ve noticed and noted before, and it’s part of a larger problem I’ve seen happening for years--the mischaracterization of ‘criminals’ and ‘protectors’ in our society. (I’ve already written about this.) Put simply, we’re telling ourselves a false narrative about good and evil--thru the media we consume which shapes our understanding of the world and people around us.

 

It’s why I’ve chosen to write the sort of fiction that I write—good, old fashioned mystery/suspense crime fiction thrillers, but with characters based in *reality,* not rooted in outdated fiction archetypes.

 

False narratives, failure to understand--these things are never good. And it’s hard to solve a problem when you don’t understand it in the first place.

 

More on this, from The Conversation UK: https://theconversation.com/not-all-drug-dealers-are-the-same-its-time-to-ditch-outdated-stereotypes-93773