Doc: OK. A lot of poor folks does drugs, drinks too much and gambles and some steal when they can. People with money say them things is what causes poverty. I aint sayin' that. Those things is traps for the poor and keeps 'em oppressed.
Big Dave: Doc's right, Tondy. Rich people does drugs and poor people does drugs, but it is different. Poor folks are on the edge and have no room for making mistakes. Rich people do drugs for fun or to feel better just like poor people do. But rich people get their doctors to subscribe the pills for them. The cops aren't gonna hassle rich people because they got lawyers, and nothing is going to happen to them anyway. Rich people mostly don't go to jail.
Doc: And ain't all people does things for the same reasons. Some just aint know no better. Like when I was a boy, my daddy gave me beer since long as I can remember. Maybe two or 3 years old. I didn't like it at first an' he would put salt in it to take off the edge. He told my mama that it canceled out the alcohol. I didn't never like beer too much, but it made him and his friends laugh so I would do it. And it made me feel like a little man. They gave me cigarettes too, Tondy. My uncles smoked reefer and when I was maybe 12 they would offer it to me.
I aint never tasted whiskey til 
I was maybe 12 or 13. I took one drink and I liked it. It just felt right in my mouth and felt like a old friend. I just liked it alot. Drinkin' runs in my family and it is in the blood. So that's how I got started. But that's just me.
Big Dave: I was about 10 or 12. My daddy had a few bottles around the cabin, an' I got a taste for it on my own. Daddy drank it, so I wanted to be like Daddy and I would sneak a drink whenever I could when I was younger than 10. But when I was 10 or 12, my cousin Earl gave me a bottle of whiskey that he'd tooken from somewhere and we went out behind the barn and drank it. Drank the whole bottle!
Doc: Same with drugs. I ain't never been too much on drugs, but a lot of people is. Some of it comes from their own family, their mama or daddy. Older brothers and sisters can get you started. Might be a thing where all your friends does it and you just want to fit in.
Big Dave: Here's somethin' else about drugs, Tondy. Folks what gots insurance when they get down in the mullygrubs or whatever it is that makes them feel bad, they go to a psychiatrist or whatever doctor they go to, and he will write 'em a subscription for some drugs an' they feel more relaxed. It ain't against the law.
Doc: But if a person is poor and gets down and depressed, they ain't got insurance. They might be able to go to socialist services an' get someone to give them some pills. But guess what? That person gots rent to pay, or the light bill. So he or she might be able to get the pills. But then they is needin' money and they got a neighbor or someone who will give them money for it.
But they still got bills to pay. But they still is feelin' down in the dumps. But now they got money to pay a bill and maybe $10 or 20 bucks to buy some weed to use instead of those pills. But it's against the law.
Take that same person, if he got laid off his job, an' he cain't find work, he is a sure target for become a drug dealer. Not 'cause he is tryin' to be a criminal, but 'cause he is tryin' to eat and pay bills. Lotsa times, he ain't tryin' to get someone to start doin' drugs, just he is tryin' to make a couple of bucks off the people he knows what is already doin' them, an' maybe sell them drugs a little cheaper to them. But that still makes him a drug dealer. And it's against the law.
But he ain't thinkin' of himself as a criminal and most the times, he ain't gettin' rich. Heck, he usually ain't got nothin! Most the drug dealers I know ain't got nothin' more than I got. Matter of fact, I got more than a lot of them. I got a bungalow, a little shop for workin' on cars and a little place to grow some veggies. I'm a blessed man, Tondy. I don't do no drugs, but I ain't lookin' down on everyone what does do drugs. I ain't lookin' down on a man who is sellin' some drugs to feed his family when he is desperate. He is wrong, and he might go to jail, and he is deceived. But I care about him an' hope he can get a real job and cut out sellin' drugs and hope he can go through the day without usin' drugs.
Tell you what, without the Lord, I ain't no different or no better than anybody else. Don't ever look down on a man what is goin' through a hard time and the devil is on his back. You pray for him and try to lift him up.
Big Dave: Now someone who sells drugs to kids is no good. That person ought to be stopped right now. He ain't tryin' to pay bills, he is a predator. He needs to turn away from that mess right now!
