The Road To 10k
This is a story of one young man who goes by the alter ego “Vincent van dope” who I had met over the course of my time at university. I was really invested in speaking about drugs and was able to meet a lot of people. One of which has proven to be a strong character reaching different heights. Where money was scarce but now thousands are seen as pennies. From flipping his last paycheck of 500 pounds, to thousands in just a few months. This plot unravels a strong sense of hope, though it falls into an illegal way of thinking, the conclusions lead to something greater than what is portrayed.
October 2019
Working at an estate agency for six months Vincent was a 20-year-old adult drowning in wealth. He was making big moves at a young age, one of which was moving out into a new build apartment. This saw the start of a legacy he was not expecting, something he now calls “baby Vincent”. From a young age Vincent was troubled. A mischievous child from birth, he speaks the stories of how he “called the police on my father” and had a very troubled relationship with his dad. Onto his teens, he was a very reckless individual, getting into all sorts of entanglements. But he had brains, ones that would help him go far. A few months prior to moving out – on a night out with his girlfriend, Vincent got into an altercation involving another couple. This quarrel ended in him getting arrested and many months later facing a court case. The result of this was a suspended sentence, months on house arrest, and community service. During his time living in his apartment, he was faced with a lot of harsh challenges. These challenges only began to appear once he started his business in dealing, which wasn’t a bad idea. Currently the illicit drug market in the UK is worth an estimate 9.4 billion a year, which is a clear reflection to Vincent’s come up. He began with selling things such as marijuana and ecstasy. Selling to anyone and everyone with not a lot of thought, a “dumb mistake” which he calls. With majority of his weed being loaned by his “olders” he had to make sure to make his buck, or he’d be in a lot of trouble. Things were moving swiftly; he was getting through his stock with ease to the point where he’d even quit his job because the money was so good. The only thing holding him back was his house arrest. Which came off two months later.
Fast forward a couple months with the freedom to come home whenever he pleased, things started to take a turn for the worst. With everything going so well, he got hit with unexpected misfortune. On one night he had a call for “three zeds of weed” (3oz of weed) a big sell and of course a lot of money. A situation he recalls as “careless and unfortunate”. This weed was all he had, and it would give him a lot of profit to play with. Later that night he met with the buyer in his car, and as the buyer entered his car, he immediately held Vincent at knife point. “Bust me that bag before I chef you”, the fear of possibly losing his life resulted in him handing the bag over and that was it, he got out the car and ran off.
“I was sat in the car trying to process what just happened”, he then jumped out and went looking for the guy, but he was gone. Now in debt to his olders Vincent had to ring them up and let them know what just happened. They both cooperated and luckily his olders were “calm and understanding” but now he was in a huge debt to them and had no stock to even make money. His ecstasy line was running slow, and his weed was the biggest income.
This wasn’t the end of it, a couple weeks later as everything was calming down and his money was coming back up, he was hit with one of the worst experiences of his life. A gang in Luton who goes around the town stealing from people’s homes, people’s cars and more importantly stealing from other dealers, and one being Vincent himself. Already struggling with money and only just got his stock back Vincent gets a call from a regular customer, also a friend of his. He meets up with him with another friend and they exchange convo as normal, out of nowhere three thugs come out with knives or as they call it “Rambo’s”. They try to rob him, but before anything could happen Vincent’s friend gets stabbed in the head, so everyone decides to run off. Vincent going one way and the others going another. “The next thing I’d done was the dumbest thing I could have ever done”, thinking that was the end of it, Vincent goes back home which was only round the corner as he opens the main door he gets pushed in by a group of thugs. Holding a samurai sword to his belly they say, “take us to your apartment”. Without hesitation and the pressure of a sword pushing into his back, he shows them the way. They enter his apartment and start beating him with batons and threatening him with knives, screaming “where’s the food and money!” hitting him constantly till he speaks “it’s in my room in my draws”. They run in, throw his things about, taking his money and stock and leave the building. Traumatised and shock as it all went by in a blur Vincent gets up and sits on his bed trying to process what had happened.
On the day he was released from tag a surprise party was thrown to try and bring some sort. Of happiness from previous mistakes. Friends creating a joyful atmosphere to help get his minds of things and to celebrate his freedom from a curfew, things looked to a brighter light. Or has it?
The misfortune goes on, a couple weeks later with Vincent starting a new job in the heart of London. After committing to stop drug dealing, he thought he would have an easy time and not get involved with problems. He comes home one day after a busy day to be approached with a knock on his door. It’s the same people that robbed him, this time they couldn’t find anything, no drugs, no money, so they take him into their car, kidnapping him, a knife to his belly and a gun wrapped in a bag to the back of his head. He gets forced into the middle seat of a stolen car, saying nothing to him, sitting frightened. They take him to one of their “Bandos” where they smoke his weed “you got some nice weed” they say. A “very cynical atmosphere”. A couple hours pass he tries to think of a plan to escape but then they drag him back into the car. His friend calls the police to let them know he’s been kidnapped. Multiple police cars were spotted driving past, so they panic, throw their weapons into bushes and ditch the car. Vincent runs out the car and runs away from them hiding behind in a bush, he calls an uber to take him home. “They didn’t make an effort to hold me, but I just knew for myself that was the final straw, I knew I had to move out it isn’t safe there anymore”.
March 2020
The start of a new era. With his community service finishing early due to trauma from past incidents, he was given a fresh start. After moving out and going to a new apartment, this time things were different. With his tags removed and finally smelling fresh air. A new job at a recruitment agency with his roommate who goes by the name “Frecks”, an important character to this chapter. A few weeks into their new job covid-19 hits and now they’re getting phone calls from their workplace pronouncing them redundant. A shock to both as they’ve just moved into a new place and now they’ve got the stress of how to pay their bills. Ideas running through their brains, then the call for Vincent returns. This time playing it smaller and smarter. With only sticking to ecstasy to stay low and not gain a lot of attraction. But this runs slow with not a lot of income. Months go by things get difficult. Frecks having to go into his savings to pay the bills and Vincent struggling to cope with his PTSD and money problems. Things get much heated with problems with his roommate. Their relationship starts to break apart and they start to begin feeling “hostile with each other”. “We both started to have arguments over things, not because of the money but stuff pettier, he would try and get my own friends who I had introduced him to, to hate me” things became difficult for each other, soon or later the end of another chapter.
Four months into the new apartment things became very heated within the household. Vincent’s dealing wasn’t going well at all, frecks was still paying for the bills and the two had an animosity against each other. Until one day things just went sideways. On one sunny day, they both had pulled each other’s last strings. With a few friends over and a BBQ set up “we were all off vallums” except frecks who had taken “a large sum of cocaine”. Things became very difficult with one another, with not a lot to explain “I couldn’t remember much from that day except pulling out his knife and threatening him”. Vincent was pushed to the edge, he went inside and pulled out frecks knife, which was still in its casing, he threatened him while frecks was shouting back at him. Frecks had enough and called the police. Five minutes later Vincent was put in handcuffs and sent to the cells. “I was sat in the cells off a Valium, and I was still on probation, all I could remember was praying to god to help me out” and that’s exactly what had happened. The next morning, he was released from cells, and he immediately moved out and back into his mums. The hostility between the two still remain and the case frecks had put on Vincent was dropped and put under NFA.
November 2020
This is the time where Vincent was officially created, a fresh start and a new goal. While still struggling for money going through multiple jobs in summer and being redundant in each one, the official birth of “Vincent Van Dope” was made. This saw a new era, a fresh start and a brighter future. The aim this time wasn’t just to get rich, but now he saw his future at university. Starting a foundation year in college, studying sociology in hopes of getting into journalism within Russel groups such as Leeds. The start of Vincent was going to be a major aspect to where he stands now. November 2020 still struggling for money being redundant multiple times, Vincent created his brand, but following it with a much smarted and broader line. With redundancy being worse than 2008-2009 economic downturn, opening Vincent looked like the brightest idea. His target audience were those that would party and friends of friends, he didn’t want to approach “roadmen” or people he didn’t really know. His goal this time was to reach ten grand and retire his brand. But it turned into something much bigger than he would ever expect.
The start off was slow but as a month went by his line became impressively huge. Dealing with drugs such a ketamine, ecstasy, MDMA, LSD, and cocaine for Christmas, he had a wide range of products to give. Sometimes even bringing out rare drugs such as 2CB and shrooms which were hard to come across within Luton. “I saw an empty market and went for it”. He was one of the very few within town to supply such a list and he was one of the best in terms of product quality. To add to this lockdown found it much difficult for people to get drugs with 1/10 having to resort to the dark web, and many reporting having an increase in drug use father than a decrease. With multiple buys within the day, he would make from “thirty pounds to hundred and fifty pounds” each sell. Due to his product quality being so good he was able to hold larger prices. This helped Vincent reach his goal quickly and was able to surpass what he was initially planning. He soon became the number one for “party essentials” in town. The drugs mainly saw a reach to a lot of people “looking for the sesh”. His cliental would be those bored at home and others throwing secret parties. With a lot of his customers inviting him over it became a social brand. Which meant it was good for business.
The raver scene was a special aspect to building Vincent. With having a very popular history in the raver scene it helped Vincent branch out to different town and cities allowing him to do postal orders to cliental he felt comfortable with. Not only was he able to get new customers, but he was also introduced to new plugs, those with better deals and appreciable product. The raver scene became a safe space for dealers and buyers. There was no fear of law and no fear of hostility from other dealers. The UK has a high rate of drug misuse when it comes to those aged 16-24. 21% of people have taken drugs in the last year with most people going unheard of. These stats came prior to lockdown, and as from the business Vincent has seen it shows that lockdown has made an increase in drug use. The raver scene is a place where people let loose and take all types of drugs, mainly focusing on ecstasy to feel a type of euphoria when in contact with music.
The journey of Vincent turned into something much more than money, his very sociable character was favoured by his customers and because of this his brand was able to flourish, meeting all types of people who could help him out. Vincent became a way to make new friends rather than the money making. One main character was a chemist he had met, someone who was able to test his drugs and prove them to be of good quality and not just salt in a bag. His bond with him grew strong and they soon became close friends. Becoming friends with this chemist was big, because not only did he have a professional to check his stock, but he was also able to provide him study drugs such as Ritalin. This opened up a new market for Vincent he was able to sell to gamers and more university students. His brand was becoming bigger and recognisable by a new market, all while staying on the downlow.
Vincent was able to surpass his initial goal of ten grand within a few months, come 2021 he was able to reach twenty grand in cash, with six grand going just into investments such as drivers and stock replenishment, Vincent went from zero pounds to dealing with thousands in months. Soon after he invested into crypto which went much better then dealing had ever gotten, making thirty grand in the space of two weeks. This saw the beginning of the end to Vincent.
With crypto going well, the drug line showed little to no attention. With hundreds of pills, a few tabs of acid and a couple hundred grams of ketamine left Vincent decided to start it off again. This time his goal was to finish it off once and for all, sell all of his stock and move on to university, a new and fresh start. “All it took was one post and I had multiple orders daily for things people want” he was able to sell half of his stock in the space of a week with postal orders and deliveries. Vincent wanted to get rid of his stock and “sell my line”. He was getting offers of ten grand for his contacts which was quick money and helpful for a start at university. One main aspect to Vincent was his drivers “without my drivers’ money would be hard to make, they were key to my brand as they were young and didn’t look like the type of people police would stop”. With two drivers Vincent was easily able to get to order with others also helping when in time of need. this helped Vincent a lot to push the majority of his stock. Now all has doing is to see what the future will hold.
Without the brand Vincent, he would’ve struggled throughout the year “Vincent turned me from being dead broke to rich in a year” it was something he felt “was needed to help in a difficult time” and it proved successful. The story all ended in a happy ending with money being up and his suspended sentence ending, a fresh start awaited in Leeds, to “get away from my old life”.