Confessions of a Dope Dealer

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, educating, and thought-provoking
Review: Confessions is a worthwhile read for anyone interested themes of spiritual awareness, social acceptance, dysfunctional families, and the process of becoming a self-supporting adult. In 352 entertaining yet sometimes repetitive pages, Norberg describes in detail his journey from a gifted yet angry young man to a full-time drug dealer to a substance-free meditation practitioner. He loosely ties the phases of his life, beginning with early childhood, to seven principles of Chinese philosophy and medicine (wood, fire, earth, metal, water, and yin and yang). The autobiography then concludes with two short chapters written from the perspective of someone who has tested the limits of society and themselves and wishes to share their wisdom

Confessions of a Dope Dealer is as much of a cautionary tale as it is a drug user's manual. The moral of this tale is that drugs are a seductive yet short-lived and harmful path to self-awareness. A great summer read for anyone with an open or curious mind.

Rating:
Summary: Sheldon Norberg speaks the word
Review: I really enjoyed reading Confessions of a Dope Dealer. I picked it up and finished it in only two days. I had been looking for a good memoir about growing up as a drug dealer, and with a title like this, how could I go wrong? What I found was a curiously honest book about a young man growing up in the aftermath of the sixties, under the shadow of Raygunomics. A wonderfull read for anyone interested in dope, dealing, the Dead, or the eighties.

Rating:
Summary: Testosterone + teen angst + massive psychedelics = messed up
Review: Kids will do these things. I did some, but as my dad said, "You had at least half the sense god gave celery." so I stopped when it got stupid and bizarre. Just kicked it. That whole Deadhead scene, all the concert thing - wasn't real. Bunch of people going nowhere, amusing themselves to death too literally. Oh, I liked the music, some of it.

Thing is, that 15-21 are crucial years for forming character, patterns of action, belief systems and personality for most. Adolescence is hard enough. Taking massive amounts of hallucinogenic drugs during that time is going to have serious effects.

Psychedelics can be useful. It's true what Norberg says about them at the end. But they can really weird people into orbit too. That includes some of those who researched them. Check out John Lilly, Mr. "Center of the Cyclone" did he turn into a blastoff boy or what? I've met and known well some of those Grof worked with or taught at some point. They vary a lot.

Anyway - I know that kids will always be kids and do stupid things. It's their nature. This book is pretty accurate about what to expect.

Me? Strangest thing for me was to love Mozart when I listened to it on LSD. Just wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: Testosterone + teen angst + massive psychedelics = messed up
Review: Kids will do these things. I did some, but as my dad said, "You had at least half the sense god gave celery." so I stopped when it got stupid and bizarre. Just kicked it. That whole Deadhead scene, all the concert thing - wasn't real. Bunch of people going nowhere, amusing themselves to death too literally. Oh, I liked the music, some of it.

Thing is, that 15-21 are crucial years for forming character, patterns of action, belief systems and personality for most. Adolescence is hard enough. Taking massive amounts of hallucinogenic drugs during that time is going to have serious effects.

Psychedelics can be useful. It's true what Norberg says about them at the end. But they can really weird people into orbit too. That includes some of those who researched them. Check out John Lilly, Mr. "Center of the Cyclone" did he turn into a blastoff boy or what? I've met and known well some of those Grof worked with or taught at some point. They vary a lot.

Anyway - I know that kids will always be kids and do stupid things. It's their nature. This book is pretty accurate about what to expect.

Me? Strangest thing for me was to love Mozart when I listened to it on LSD. Just wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: Brutally honest, a real sleeper book
Review: Really great book, which made me laugh, cringe and think. It has been many years since my year of living dangerously at 17. I was less into mellowing agents than he, never liked pot or hash which dulled my mind too much. But I loved LSD, peyote and psylocibin. Yes, I did. Had some wonderful experiences from dying and becoming one with the light being-ness to seriously spicing up dinner and Christmas with my family. Quite a thing to see my heavy-duty dad get up from the table, hop and scream for joy at the ceiling from a pure contact high. I never dared to suggest we do it together, but we probably could have.

I also had some stellar bad times that seared my soul, never to return to what I was before. I too wonder what I might have been. But I don't regret. No, I don't.

Altogether it left me aching for the perfection of the wonder at the peak. The myth of Tantalus speaks fairly well for me. My life since has always been colored by the knowing that I can never slake that thirst, nor can I ever feel I may not drown someday should I try to drink of that spring or that I might not drown if I do not. As Maharaj Ji (Ram Dass' guru) said, LSD can take you to the room with god for a short time, but then you must leave.

Reading his book, it is hard to imagine someone intentionally returning to the level of paranoia which he did, and which it seems so many others did also. My lord what dedication! That's one thing that got me. After my first 6 months, things got tres` weird and I didn't like that anxious feeling at all. I kept at it through habit, and because it can be so goddam FUN and profound, then just stopped when I left home on my motorcycle and never did it again.

Psychedelics often massively inflate ones sense of self importance in a peculiar way, which Sheldon is honest enough to speak of in his book. Few former heads do. Most simply animate their inflation instead, making those around them subtly or not so subtly uneasy with them, particularly when they combine it with addle-pated notions. I have known, since my teens, quite a few who blew out on that course. I won't bore you with those I have known who didn't make it so well, some dead, some flipped, but they are there. I will say though, that far more people went down from unsafe sex, or stupid violence untouched by drugs, or from alcohol than from LSD or pot.

I still meet people, 28 years later who want to trip with me. People still know, after all these years. They can sense it if they get close to me. I consider it once in a great while.

Most of those I deal with now never have used such things and never will. They are, many of them, stellar people whom I respect greatly. But it is hard to never speak about such things, and I cannot do so with them usually.

Good book, and an unusual one in this time. So, thanks to Mr. Norberg for writing it. A surprise, really worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Aims to Spark Dialogue
Review: This isn't normally the type of book that I choose to read, but after seeing the author's one-man theatrical performance of this autobiographical piece I decided to check it out. The book tells the story of a young man coming of age in the drug-culture of the late 70's and early 80's. The story is fun, engaging, and at times ultimately disturbing. At the end of the book the author reflects on his experiences, choices, and [mess] ups, and how they affected his life. It is not until the end that you get the impression that this book is meant to be a jumping-off point for discussion of our current drug-policy, and how it affects society as a whole. The author makes some keen observations, and I appreciate his approach to this discussion by bringing the subject matter into literary and theatrical formats. The one-man show is followed by a brief question and answer period which is a great way to spark a dialogue on this subject matter. Although some might perceive this book as a glorification of drug-dealing, it is ultimately an honest look at one man's experiences, one which left me with no illusions about the realities of this illicit profession.

Rating:
Summary: Aims to Spark Dialogue
Review: This isn't normally the type of book that I choose to read, but after seeing the author's one-man theatrical performance of this autobiographical piece I decided to check it out. The book tells the story of a young man coming of age in the drug-culture of the late 70's and early 80's. The story is fun, engaging, and at times ultimately disturbing. At the end of the book the author reflects on his experiences, choices, and [mess] ups, and how they affected his life. It is not until the end that you get the impression that this book is meant to be a jumping-off point for discussion of our current drug-policy, and how it affects society as a whole. The author makes some keen observations, and I appreciate his approach to this discussion by bringing the subject matter into literary and theatrical formats. The one-man show is followed by a brief question and answer period which is a great way to spark a dialogue on this subject matter. Although some might perceive this book as a glorification of drug-dealing, it is ultimately an honest look at one man's experiences, one which left me with no illusions about the realities of this illicit profession.