I've known a lot of dope dealers in my time and by far and away, the Big "E" was the best. Other dealers I've known have told me, "I only deal the best." which usually means what they got is probably over priced even if it is really good, or they say it because they like being “The Man." The Big "E" never said it, he didn't have to. He just always had the best and at a fair price. He was a doper’s doper, he dealt because he loved dope. And he always had lots, which he'd share with you for a nominal fee. Nor was he misnamed because he was big, 6'3" or 6'4", well over 250 pounds and not much of it fat either. He had long straight black hair and a little black beard. He was dark skinned and looked like a Mexican or Indian though he spoke with no accent. If you ask him what the "E" stood for he might say "Easy" or "Elvis" or "Nothin’, it's just an E." Far as I know he never mentioned his last name. He was just the Big "E" with the best dope. Also, as far as I know, he never left his house on Potrerro Hill, day or night he was always there in the kitchen or the living room by himself or with a dozen others doing dope.
What dope did the Big "E" do? Of course, there was grass and lots of it but never dirtweed Mex. He had Colombo Gold, Thai Sticks, Jamaican or some other sweet smelly sticky two toke shit that got you high instead of just stoned and he'd give it to you for just $5 or $10 more an ounce than you'd pay for Mex Reg. Usually there would be some hash around with an exotic name like Red Lebanese, Moroccan, Afghani or Nepali Temple Balls that were laced with opium. It was a tad expensive but what the hell, it's only money. When you smoked it, it tasted so good and the high was even better.
Then there was the psychedelics: The Big "E" had acid so pure that after you took it you'd hardly have any body rushes, instead you'd just be high, feeling the pure and clean clarity of being. No speed or strychnine to make you jumpy or worse yet, paranoid, only a beautiful warm loving trip to the further reaches of your mind. The Big "E" sometimes had Peyote, sometimes dried, sometimes fresh which is even a better high than acid especially in a natural surrounding. On Peyote, you're just part of this majickal universe and everything is right. He had dried Majick Mushrooms too, not as good as high as Peyote or Acid, but still trippy and a lot of fun. (In fact, I’ve eaten more mushrooms than any other psychedelic because they grow all over the world and usually they're FREE!) He was also one of the few people who had DMT, a psychedelic that I've always had a particular fondness for. I did it every chance I got. It was only around for a couple of years and I never understood why it wasn't more popular. I thought it was really great. For one thing, you would sprinkle it on some dried mint leaves so it always had a real nice taste. Some folks sprinkled it on their pot but I never saw the point, it was good enough all by itself. Then you would roll it into a joint and fire that puppy up. From the second you took the smoke into your lungs you knew that you were in for a fine high. You'd feel a warm glow start in your midsection expanding out beyond your physical self like an arrow shot into a golden sun filled with rainbows and you'd feel all contented and happy with a big stupid grin on your face. Then you would take another toke and get higher, happier. My, my a much better rush than the ever popular over priced feel good for 10 minutes then bummed for 30 minutes nose burning snot sucking Cocaine. Something I would of course take, but something I never understood or got into. I mean $100 for a gram that would last you and your friends a couple of hours at the most. What a rip off! You could stay high all month on grass and acid for that much money and have a much better high. About the only good thing about coke was, it was real popular with the ladies. If you had enough of it then you got laid for sure. I knew quite a few coke whores who would fuck anyone anytime and all they're friends, and all for just a couple of lines.
I might snort or smoke it if some was offered to me but I would never buy it. If I was looking for a great high with good rushes, one with staying power, then pure methamphetamine was the drug of choice. I'm not talking about that crapo crank or crystal meth either, but meth so pure that it was almost as good as an acid high, except instead of laying around grooving or wandering around tripping, you had places to go, people to see, things to do. You could run for two or three days, no problem. You could even eat and you wouldn’t get that tight jawed jittery feeling that you got from the cheap shit. You could even drink all night long and the booze only got you mellow, not drunk. Plus, in the sack it would give you a raging hard-on with lots of staying power so you could fuck the whole night away, at least until your muscles either cramped up or just plain gave out, through I'm sorry to say you couldn't cum. But hey it was still a lot of fun. When you'd had enough of a run and wanted to crash, why you'd just go see the Big "E". He'd give you a couple of Reds or Truies so you could sleep for a day or two then be ready to party again on something else that the Big "E" provided.
He had exotic stuff too. Stuff that came around once or maybe twice. Dope with initials that we had no idea of what they meant but we took them all. Sometimes by themselves, sometimes in combination with whatever else there was happening. Sometimes we had good trips, sometimes bad, but we always got high, or down, or whatever.
The Big "E" never sold smack, he didn't like the clientele. If there was some around he might sprinkle some on some pot so a fine high could be enjoyed by all but he always told you when he did. He did sell Opium whenever it was in town, and if there is a finer drug in the world I’d like to know what it is because if you smoke a gram of O then you're in Heaven, Paradise, Nirvana. It's pure Bliss and it last for hours and hours.
Now some of you reading this are going to think that we were nothing but a bunch of stoned out druggies and hey, you'd be right, but we were more than that too. Those of us who participated in this lifestyle between the 1960's and 1980's constituted the largest group of human beings ever in the history of mankind to experiment on such a huge scale pharmacologically on ourselves. Both in the taking of single drugs and drugs in combination with any and all other drugs. We did it not only just to get high, but to try to achieve a better understanding of both ourselves and our fellow human beings. Although it may not count for much now here in the 1990's, at least we tried, and it was so much fun!
I wonder if the Big "E" is still out there somewhere sitting at his kitchen table dispensing dope and getting high with all his friends. I can only hope so.