With Illinois poised to legalize marijuana on Jan. 1, 2020, Wisconsin will be a weed-desert in a largely green sea, as Michigan and Illinois both have fully legalized the substance and Minnesota allows medical use.

Despite the drug’s illegality, some Oshkosh students still use the substance recreationally.

One UW Oshkosh student spoke about their experience using and selling marijuana on the condition of anonymity.

“Jordan Doe,” a junior at UW Oshkosh, said they first smoked marijuana in the second semester of their freshman year. They started smoking on the weekends, as they viewed it as an alternative to drinking that wouldn’t leave them with a hangover.

Recently, they started selling marijuana to make back some of the money that they spent on the substance. Doe said they’ve probably spent over a thousand dollars on weed since they first used it.

“I pretty much just sell it to my friends,” Doe said. “I don’t want to go crazy, so I mostly just sell to my friends, because then we all get a cheaper deal”

They mostly supply to people they already know in order to avoid dangerous situations.

“I typically just pick up [weed] if people need stuff,” Doe said. “I’m not going to, like, go out of my way to sell to people that I don’t know, and like, I don’t want to deal with anybody I don’t know because that way my name doesn’t get out there.”

Doe started purchasing weed in bulk so that he’d get it at a reduced rate from what he’d be paying for smaller weights. The illicit sale of marijuana is like buying bottled water: if somebody buys a single bottle, they might pay a dollar, but if they buy a whole case, the price only goes up a few dollars. With marijuana, a person might buy a single gram for around $10, but if they buy a larger amount, the price slowly is reduced. It’s comparable to any wholesale purchase.

“I started getting zips [an ounce of marijuana] from my roommate,” Doe said. “We get a zip for like $175.”

Doe sells in quantities of grams, with people typically buying one to four grams at a time.

“Typically on the weekend people buy more,” Doe said. “Last weekend we sold a little less than an ounce.”

The sale of the drug can carry heavy consequences. If they are caught, Doe would face up to three and a half years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.

“I mean, obviously it can be dangerous and that worries me,” Doe said. “That’s why I try to keep it low key, I mean, I’m a person who likes to avoid all damages. I like to know everything going into a situation, and basically do all I can to make sure I don’t get in trouble.”

That said, Doe thinks they’re obscure enough of a drug dealer to remain undetected.

“If I keep doing this small stuff, I’ll probably be fine,” Doe said. “We’re basically just selling to make back what we smoke, so we’re not paying like a ridiculous amount if we’re smoking. This way, at least we can basically smoke for free.”

Doe thinks that having their objective to be to “smoke for free” is what will protect them from being detected by Oshkosh law enforcement.

“In my opinion, people get caught because they get greedy,” Doe said. “They try to handle more than they can and then the next thing you know, their name gets out there, and next thing you know there’s cops lining up outside your door. That’s not what I want.”

“That’s way I kind of keep it within my friends, like people I trust, because once I go outside the people I trust, that’s when I start to get nervous. If I get to that point I think I’ll have to be done because it’s pretty serious, I mean, even having a scale is a serious fucking problem.”

The thought to sell more and make more money can be tempting, but Doe thinks it’s not worth the risk.

“There are times where I’m like ‘Maybe I could, like, really sell a lot. We could really make a lot, that would be nice,’ but is it worth it in the long run? I mean, my goal is basically just to smoke for free.”

But there’s no such thing as a free lunch, or free weed for that matter. Each time Doe sells or gets high in Wisconsin, Doe puts their reputation and future on the line.