Straight Dope: A 360 degree look into American drug culture

By LeRon Barton

Straight Dope is book that asks the simple question – why are drugs so entrenched in America's society. Instead of doing the same ol' rigamarole song and dance and interviewing talking heads and experts, Straight Dope gets to the heart of the matter and talks to the people at ground zero – the drug addicts whose life revolves around getting high; the criminals who profit of the misery of the addicts; the teachers who deal with the children in drug abused homes; the drug counselors that try and balance breaking the addicts cycle of addiction while dealing with the bureaucracy of government politics; the legal marijuana growers battle against tobacco companies and how to thrive in the growing industry; and the parents issue of how they will prepare their children to just say no.

Inspired by the late great Studs Terkel's many works, Straight Dope is comprised of raw and uncut hard hitting interviews about the participants experiences, thoughts, opinions, and outlook on drug abuse, why or why not drugs should be legal, and how the government is handling the war on drugs.

Removing nearly all of the questions, the interviews are more like monologues, allowing the reader to feel as if the subject is just, “talking,” instead of your standard interview.

In addition to the real life accounts of people, Straight Dope also has spoken word pieces compiled of biting social commentary, as well as my own personal reflections composed of my experiences with drugs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LeRon Barton
• Release date: Apr 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301120215

LeRon Barton

My name is LeRon L. Barton and I was born in Kansas City, Mo in 1978 (totally dating myself - LOL). Like any Midwestern person, I wanted to come to California. Why? Because of the weather and the beaches, duh! After going to school for IT and moving from San Diego to The Bay Area, which I absolutely love, there was a void in my life. I broke down and admitted to myself, I am an artist! All my life I knew that I wanted to be a writer, well a stuntman, then a race car driver (I still want to!), but finally settled on using the power of the written word. I have written poetry, short stories, essays, and two screen plays, but I have always wanted to write a book. The idea for Straight Dope came because I wanted to create something real, impactful, and that I had knowledge of. Where I come from, in my neighborhood, circle of friends, and way of life, drugs have always been around. Instead of taking a judgemental view on the topic, I wanted to have people tell their own story and listen. I just didn't want to talk to law enforcenment and get this uniform answer on drugs in America, I wanted a well rounded look into drug culture, hence the title, "Straight Dope: A 360 degree look into American drug culture." This is my first book, but definetly not the last. I hope to continue to release projects that will make people take a step back and listen, learn, and as they say around my way - "Recognize, realize, and analyze."

Book preview

Introduction

Why are you writing a book about drugs? I got that question a lot when I would tell people the topic of the book. Some would say, Isn't there enough things about drugs on TV, radio, etc, and others would immediately sneer and comment, Why do you want to talk about something so negative? And my answer to all would be, Because, there has not been an honest discussion about drugs in America.

Year after year, we have been inundated with images and messages of drugs destroying people, the all night parties with wonderful head-trips, endless cash-flow from the illegal and legal narcotics trade and the new state and federal task forces created to fight such dealers; the struggle of the former addict trying to stay clean, the teacher trying to reach the student from falling to the allure of the streets, while the dealer entices him with promises of money and street fame. From the young girl in the suburbs trying E for the first time, to the card carrying pot smoker going to get his refill of kush, drugs are around us, touching every facet of life. Drugs can promise to get you well, make you sexy, become the life of the party, pick you up when you feeling down, keep you alive, wake you up, and knock you out. We have become slaves to the magic pill, powder, shot.. We can't live without it.

When I first started writing Straight Dope, I wanted to answer a question, Why are drugs so entrenched in American way of life? Growing up, I can't remember one part of my life that drugs have not touched. From family members being strung out, to crack reversing fortunes in my neighborhood – making some rich and destroying others, hip-hop music glorifying it, and finally my Mother warning us of the dangers, drugs have always been a part of my life. When people talk about drugs, two things come to mind: Exaggeration and misinformation. What I mean is that a lot of times when we discuss it’s, Oh man, if you take one hit of Marijuana, you’re gonna lead to doing this, or People who are addicts are dirty, stupid, yada yada." Not too many people have concrete answers, just opinions. They just simply go with the flow and take what’s fed to them by network television and the latest anti drug article released by your local politician. I have always been the type of person that wants to get his information without any bias or hyperbole, or straight from the source, and that I did.

The most important factor to this book is it's realness. I wanted it to have an air of truth, no slants, opinions, views, just facts, hence the title. And to do that, I had to seek out people who had experience dealing with drugs – users, sellers, law enforcement, lawyers, counselors, teachers, and parents. People from all walks of life, race, gender, social status, etc. The reason for such a wide range of subjects is that I wanted to get everyone's take on the subject. I didn't want to seem as if I was leaning towards a specific point of view or promoting an agenda. Like many of my hero's Stud Terkels works, Straight Dope is composed of people talking and giving their experiences. I wanted this to be raw and uncut, me listening to whatever they had to say.

One of the biggest challenges in writing Straight Dope was naturally finding people who would want to talk to me. I mean you can't go up to the average person and say, Hey, can we talk about your experiences with Meth? Folks would look at you like your crazy! A good year was spent finding and tracking down people who would feel comfortable with talking to you about drugs. I used many different methods to find people – friends, coffee shops, social media, Craigslist.org, and the street. Originally, my plan was to interview police officers, prison guards, and lawyers. But unfortunately, that did not go as planned. Resistance and skepticism from cops stopped them from talking with me and unless I had hundreds of dollars, I could not speak with an attorney on record. Still, the folks that I gathered were great. With every interview, I urged the person to be honest and that there were no judgments. And while some were apprehensive at first, as the tape recorder started going, everyone became more relaxed, animated, candid, and forthcoming.

There were certain stories and points that I had to omit, by the interviewee or my request. Even though I stressed brutal honesty and holding nothing back, certain points I could not add in the book due to the sensitivity of the family or acts that could incriminate people.

As I began to write this book and listen to the stories, many of my own memories with drugs began to surface. From walking down my crack infested streets, trying Marijuana for the first time, experiencing different type of drugs, to finally shedding the shackles of curiosity and escaping possible drug addiction. I thought that it was important to share my own experiences through personal reflections as well as spoken word pieces.

Straight Dope is not meant to answer the questions of Should drugs be legal? or Are drugs bad for you? It is just to give you a look at our country in the time of drug consumption. Hey, I don't have the answers! I'm just a young street guy from the south-side of Kansas City who has seen a lot and wanted to get people to start talking about it. Look, drugs aint going away no time soon. As long as there are users, there will be drugs. As long as there is economic disparity, there will be drugs. As long as the media portrays getting high as glamorous, there will be drugs. As long as someone is having a fucked up day, there will be drugs. As long as the sun is shinning, there will be drugs. As long as there are bullshit reality shows, there will be drugs! So we can play like the ostrich and stick our heads in the sand, continue to push bullshit racist anti drug laws, not educating folks on what drugs actually do, and hope Little Johnny Appleseed doesn't get high, or we can have a true moment of honesty and talk about it. My Mother, the most influential person in my life spoke with my Brother and I about what was what. She did not sugar coat anything or sell us a dream, she was honest and real. And like most kids, I tried it (and inhaled) and got high.

The stories that make up Straight Dope may invoke many different emotions – laughter, sadness, anger, joy, despair, triumph, but they definitely make you think. You may find yourself cheering on the protagonist yelling Yes! Or screaming at them saying, How could you do that! These tales are here in this book to make you think and maybe you can answer the first question that was posed in the beginning of the book, the question that made me write the book, Why are drugs so entrenched in the American way of life?

Acknowledgements

and Thank You’s

First off, I would like to thank God for giving me the opportunity and ability to complete a lifelong dream. I am forever indebted to you my lord. You truly make everything possible. To my Mother Gisele, the most influential person in my life, thank you for all the encouraging words and for letting me know that I can do anything. I love you very much. My Father LeAndrew, thank you for helping me realize that this is my life and I can do what I want to. My Brother Brent, my best friend, I love you more than you know. To Grandma and Grandpa Barton, I love you. My Aunt Alana for reading my work and telling me what is and what isn’t (ha). My sister in law Ciara for being a great wife to my little brother and an even better Mom to Kingston David and Prince Michael ( I cannot wait to meet you!).

To everyone residing in Southside Kansas City – 57, 63, 68, 75, 85, I’ma hold y’all down. To my fave teachers Ms. LaRue and Stan Banks – thank you for believing in me and pushing me. My friends Nigel, Leonard, B, Ron-Dula, Monty (what up my G!), Fred L (I miss you), War, JB, Odion, Darryl W (man you grew up on me), Vert, Toon, Krista, Jarvis, Ray-Ray, my big brother Christian, Heidi, Yolande, Sister Linda B, Gretchen G, St James Parish, Guardian Angels Parish, and Angela G. My Cali crew- my big brother Chris S (I love you brother), Cin-Cin, Andrea Frosty, Alicia (I miss you!), Kim - thank you for the encouraging words when I needed them, Diana, Bill & Lauren, everybody at The ‘Front, Reni-Reni (my girl – move to Cali!!), Cara (love you!!), Armando P, Jason T, Mayra, Mark & Karen, CL (A&F), Jenny – (thank you!!), and Anya (thank you). To the friends I made on the road – Leonie (I miss you), Sally, Andy, Anh, Lily, and my little sister Noni.

To all the artists and great figures throughout history that inspired me – Malcolm X, St. Augustine of Hippo, Gordon Parks (the man), Langston Hughes, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, James Joyce, Maya Angelou, Malala Yousafzai, John Steinbeck, Spike Lee, Ice Cube, Miles Davis, Lou Reed, Miguel Pinero, FEDS Magazine, Seth Ferranti & Gorilla Convict (hold your head my dude), and last but certainly not least, Studs Terkel: the man who gave me the template to do Straight Dope. Thank you all.

Straight Dope would not be possible without all of the people who participated in telling me their stories and experiences. Gary, Carolyn, James, Stephanie, John, Phillip, Nicki, JD, Johnathon, C, Gail, Cindy, Andrea, Charles, Susan, Miriam, and Vince. Thank you for talking with me, answering my questions, revealing that part of your lives.

This book is dedicated to Baker. RIP my brother. To all the people caught up in the struggle, move on.

Love is love,

LeRon.

Chapter 1: Street Life

You wanna get rid of drug crime in this country? Fine, let's just get rid of all the drug laws.

-Ron Paul

Mr. Dopeman

Please, please let me in

I'm freezing out here

Come on man,

I need it

My breakfast, lunch, dinner,

snack, will to live, my fix

whatever you want to call it

I NEED IT!

I been looking at my watch

following the minutes

and its time

I'm out here day and night

hustling, stealin, lying, and schemin

Doing whatever the fuck I got

to do,

To get whatever I got to get

to live.

Shit.... I'm scratching,

getting sick.

Come on man,

I'm not asking for no freebies

I know I made some promises,

but I am good for it this time,

no bullshit

Do you know what I had to do to get this money??

I got it right here,

just let me in.

Let me get my........

Gary, 42

African American, very sharp,

instinctive, aspiring writer

When money is made, anything can happen

I was born in a middle class neighborhood in Cincinnati. Both of my parents are still together and I have three sisters. Back in the day, Cincinnati was one of the top ten places to have a family. The midwest was where the factories where, so you could get a good job and it was a safe city to live in. My childhood as a whole was great, about the best ever. I could do anything I want, I had great friends, went to the best schools, and everything was safe. My high-school was ranked number five in the country as far as public schools. My Father worked as at the post office and my Mom was a nurse. I'ma tell you something about my Mom: she grew up in downtown Cincinnati and was a hustler. She knew the game and knew what she wanted. You wasn't running no game on her. My parents and I had a little falling out though, due to my activity in the streets and we do not speak anymore.

How I got into the drug game?

Well I used to work at the