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by Tim Anderson
He started smoking marijuana with some friends while he was
in high school in Denver. Years later, in Lincoln, he was arrested
and charqed with selling cocaine and sentenced to three to five
years in the Nebraska State Penal Complex.
The 26-year-old inmate, who will be identified as R.B., talked
freely and confidently about his experiences with drugs as freely
and confidently as one can when incarcerated within prison walls.
"I was sort of a discriminatory doper," the young inmate said.
"Some dopers will do just about anything that comes along. Not
me. I won't do chemicals-l just can't trust the people pushing
them and I really believe most of them are danqerous.
"I've only done about 50 hits of speed in my life. Anyone can
see that speed is dangerous," he said. He added that he is mainly
interested in marijuana, hashish andTHC.
R.B. readily admitted that he would start smoking marijuana if
he was free tomorrow. However, he will not be free tomorrow, or
next week, or even next year.
"One guy figured it out for me and decided the earliest I can
jam out of here is May 14, 1976," he said, "and that's if I'm a
good little boy."
"Even though I'm sure to start smoking again, I really can't
say anything about dealing again. There would be some practical
ramifications I'd have to deal with first.
"When I started dealing, I did it for a wide set of reasons.
First, Shere was the whole situation. I had moved into a house
where dealing dope had been going on for about five years. I
mean, when I got there it was just sort of there, you know? The
whole deal of selling dope was kind of an intriguing situation in
itself I guess."
R.B., also listed a more basic reason. "I saw a lot of people
really gettinq ripped off when they bought dope. I just started
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