Dealing with dealers

TheSite.org looks at the options for reducing the risks when buying drugs.

Know the law                   

Buying drugs is illegal. Possession and supply are both serious offences that can bring strong penalties. You can be as sussed as you like about buying drugs, and take every precaution to insure that you're not being ripped off, but if you're caught the cops won't buy it (your story, that is). The best way to avoid trouble is to not buy drugs at all.

If you have already decided to buy drugs:

• Don't buy from strangers, no matter what great claims they make about their gear. Without some kind of background info, you could be dealing with an undercover cop or a rip-off artist with a pocket full of liquorish lumps and talcum powder wraps, or scouring powder. The illicit nature of their business sometimes makes violence a possibility too.
• If you have a less unreliable source, ask if he or she has tried the merchandise on offer. You can't guarantee the same experience, but it may give you a better picture of the likely effects. Bear in mind that they still might say anything to guarantee a quick sale.
• Do not take it all at once, you don't know what's in it. Try a small quantity first, to help you suss out the strength of the effects, and what effect it has on you.
• Avoid buying drugs for your friends. Even a couple of pills, or a lump of hash split into pieces, could see the charge rise from possession to possession with intent to supply, which has much harsher penalties.