An Incarcerated Crack Dealer Looks Back On His Playing Days.

I first started the drug trade at the age of 15, selling powder cocaine and heroin. I later was introduced to selling crack cocaine in 1990. I started selling with a classmate of mine. We both came up with an idea: We wanted to make a nice bankroll for our ninth-grade class trip to Disney World.

We started out dealing at 14th and W Streets NW. This was a very large open-air market. We could get up on the strip Saturday night around 11 p.m.—this was one of the peak shifts—with plenty of sales from all the nearby pimps and prostitutes. Throw in your junkies and occasional users and you have a profitable night.

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