Civic Center Blues: A Cash Crop In Denver

The Rocky Mountain News focuses on the business of the park:
Dealer adapts, uses street smarts to survive the hazards of selling pot
James B. Meadow, Rocky Mountain News
Thursday, August 14, 2008

Semi John is watching the cops bust some guys for weed as he rolls a joint. Figures if they're busy arresting other marijuana dealers they're not watching him, right? Which makes sense. Which you could say about a lot of Semi John's philosophy.

Like don't be stupid about who you sell to and don't be drinking and getting all wasted because then you lose your edge and maybe your freedom, which is something Semi John knows about because he says he's spent 22 of his 39 years in prison. Like don't be greedy. When Semi John makes what he needs, he's usually gone.

Semi John - call him that because a semi rammed him while he was riding his bicycle - is a dealer. Which doesn't exactly make him an endangered species in The Park. Saying drugs are here isn't like saying there's salt in the ocean, but it's close.

Walk around with your head down and you'll see syringes. You'll see torn bits of plastic baggies used for small amounts of crack cocaine and heroin. Walk around and look in a portable toilet and you might find a piece of aluminum foil used to cook heroin down. Hell, you might even find a couple inside the toilet getting high before emerging glassy-eyed and wobbly, and, in the case of the woman, temporarily bare breasted.

Rocky Mountain News