In college, my freshman year dorm mate was a man named Ben, and Ben had a lot of big ideas about the future.
He saw the college experience about being a lot more than just going to class, this was a microcosm of society, and he wanted to learn how to make money in any way he could. He always kept his grades high, no doubt, but his focus was always on his extracurricular activities. He “kept book” a slang term for saying he was a sports bookie and took bets from other students. He also started a low key network for selling cannabis on campus, which is the point I moved out. Much to my surprise, Ben was serious about his intentions to learn, because years after that he is a proud owner of a series of different cannabis dispensaries around the state. In school I felt like I had to distance myself, because selling marijuana out of your dorm room was extremely illegal. It still is, to be honest, but Ben has evolved into a modern business mogul who parlayed his business acumen and love of cannabis into building his own local empire. This doesn’t make me wish I started selling marijuana with him back then, but it does make me wish we had stayed friends. I smoke a little cannabis now and then, but really am more interested in getting a job with him and becoming a budtender. It’s it ironic, that I didn’t want to help him sell cannabis, and now I’m asking him for a job to sell cannabis?