Interview: Confessions of a Dope Dealer: Links

SHELDON NORBERG is talking about a difficult subject -- drugs. But he's not going to hit you over the head with a cast-iron skillet, nor is he flashing that familiar idiom made famous by Nancy Reagan. Instead, the 40-year-old former pot dealer is using comedy and personal experience to educate people

In Confessions of a Dope Dealer, opening Wednesday at the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, Norberg comically recounts his journey as a straight-A student raised in the sheltered San Leandro suburb to his heavy LSD-dropping and pot-dealing days on tour with the Grateful Dead.

Of course, Norberg's actions weren't without consequences. As a result, the show, an adaptation of his 1999 memoir, is not merely an amusing romp through Norberg's wild, doped-up life. The Oakland resident uses lessons learned from those experiences as a way to talk to youth and adults about drug use in America.

How were you first introduced to drugs?

About the time I was in seventh grade, my oldest brother, who was going to Cal, introduced me to marijuana. I think the mystique of being able to go to Berkeley and hang out with college students outweighed the excitement of that particular drug experience. But, that was enough. A lot of the allure of the drug culture is that air of maturity. It's something kids can do to feel mature and hide from parents or authority. And feel like they're taking on this independent, self-defining role.

Do you do any sort of activism, like supporting the recently passed Proposition S for medical uses of marijuana?

I think what I'm doing is about as activist as you can get. I'm a member of a lot of organizations and I keep abreast of drug science, drug politics. So I can go out and talk about this stuff. I'm teaching a drug education class at a private high school in San Francisco.

You said you don't agree with the "Just Say No" campaign. So what, exactly, is your philosophy about drug use?

I refuse to be a hypocrite. I'm saying that I made big mistakes through my use of drugs. I did damage to myself and those close to me. But I do not believe drugs are bad ... I recognize drugs are here, drugs are not going away. The government is wasting roughly $20 billion a year in this so-called war, and there are more and more drugs than ever before. The kids don't have any knowledge or understanding of what they're getting into. When you're taking these drugs as an act of rebellion or socialization, without education and training in the responsibility, you're risking a lot.

You said a writer wrongly referred to your drug of choice as a "narcotic." Why are you so careful to distinguish a narcotic from, let's say, a hallucinogen or marijuana?

I am not, and never have been a narcotics user ... So this is a very important question. If we were not to differentiate between drugs, aspirin could be equated to freebase cocaine. Narcotic drugs have specific effects and specific cultural implications. The implicit meaning of narcotic is dazed. That term has a lot of weight. It's important to use specific terms to describe specific drugs and their actions. The actions of narcotics are strong and addictive. It's important to know what you're playing with, the specifics of a drug’s actions. There are drugs that are physiologically addictive, and there are drugs that aren’t. And there are mistakes to be made with any drug.

Your view is that America's drug culture is the basis of the drug epidemic. What did you mean?

The explicit format in which our society uses drugs. America is a drug-abusing culture. Our standard for using any kind of drug is often and excessive. We don't recognize that alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and even sugar are addictive substances. We categorically blindfold ourselves to the fact that these are powerful and addictive mind-altering agents. We make no attempt to discuss it. We're all pretty much addicted to drugs.

So how does your show explain the public "demand" for drugs?

My show deals much more with my whole rebellious attitude and belief. Drugs were really the answer for everything. I didn't have to spend time evaluating. I could just take these drugs and wonderful things would happen. But eventually, less pleasant things started to happen. A number of events took place that I didn't deal with very well. I didn't really have a very good structure to deal with them, so my answer to dealing with them was taking more drugs.

What were these "events"?

Getting busted by my parents was a problem. Just before I went to college, they searched my room. Eventually their naiveté was overwhelmed. No parent wants to believe their kids are doing anything they disapprove of, and my parents are from a generation that has no understanding of drug use; really, no idea. Based on my intellect and academic performance, there was no reason for them to be suspicious. I mean, it's not like I was some pool-shooting flunky. I can clearly remember amazingly engaging dinner conversations on LSD. I was slick enough to pull off a lot of things.

Do you still talk to your parents, and get along?

Totally. They very much respect my position now, and what I'm trying to do. And I recognize how shattering it must have been for them.

You have a rather unconventional approach to drug education. How have parents and school faculty responded?

It's hard trying to get into schools. In California’s public schools, it's against the law for me to teach a class. It has to be abstinence-based. For me, that's such an outright lie. I'm saying this is how it affected my life and hopefully you get something out of that. If I were to say, 'I ruined my life, you will, too,' I'd be the kid in the back smoking a joint saying 'You (expletive) geek.' And I want to talk to these kids. Playing that 'I'll scare you' game has never worked. I’ve had more to be scared about by drugs than anybody, but I refuse to say it was something other than my own stupidity that caused me to.

So what hopes do you have for the show?

I would like people to not to have to go through the kinds of things that I had to go through. I would like our society to be much more open and educated and safe as far as drug use is considered. I prefer people weren't facing imprisonment for responsibly going out and altering their consciousness. I want people who want to stop doing drugs to have better access to programs ... It's really important that we discuss drug use rationally.

— Cassandra Braun

Cassandra Braun is a Contra Costa Times feature writer.

Confessions of a Dope Dealer opens 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, and runs through Nov. 24 at the Dean Lesher Regional Center, Civic Drive at Locust, Walnut Creek. Tickets are $12-$22. For details, contact 925-943-7469. For more information about Sheldon Norberg and his memoir, check out www.adopedealer.com.

This site and all its contents, including artwork, images, and text, are the sole posession of North Mountain Publishing, and are copyrighted as such. Reproduction, transmission, or other use in any format without express permission by NMP is a violation of US Copyright law.

top ^