That’s how the mechanism for dealing in cannabis works in the Klang Valley, a reformed drug dealer told FMT.
The man, who only wanted to be known as Harry, said all one has to do is pay RM550 to acquire 250 grams of compressed cannabis (ganja), known in the industry as a “quarter”, smuggled in from either Thailand or Indonesia.
“The price of ‘a quarter’ also depends on the number of middlemen you have to bypass. It can go from RM550 to RM900.
“A ‘quarter’ usually produces 13 to 14 sticks of weed, which can be sold up to RM100 each. You can easily make between RM500 and RM800 in profit from that,” he said.
Harry, now 28, started off by dealing quarters when he was studying in a local university.
According to him, it was the “pressure” of having to support himself and paying his tuition fees that got him dabbling in drugs.
At one point of time in his first year of drug pushing, Harry “progressed” to selling off 10-11kg of ganja in three weeks, making a profit of RM30,000.
He classifies cannabis users as mainly being in two groups – the working class, as well as college students.
“Those who really know how the game works rarely deal with college students as they don’t have the money, but ask for a lot, and whenever something happens, they will rat you out straight.
“Those (dealers) with brains would deal with working clients,” he said.
Despite the lucrative returns, Harry quit dealing in drugs last year after being active for three years, as “the risk was too much to bear.”
“When you are a small player in the game, you don’t know when your name will be up. Usually, it is the big guys who control the game as they have connections with the authorities.
“And when the authorities need to show some result to the public, it is the smaller ‘lambs’ which get caught,” he said, referring to small time dealers as lambs.
The harsh penalties for drugs possession under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 was also a deterring factor for Harry.
“You make enough and hit your target, it is enough. It is some sort of a long-term gambling. When you lose, you lose your life.”