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*Names have been changed for anonymity
By the time he was 16, Lee was involved in the world of crime and Class A drugs. Now 28, he’s served a sentence for possession with intent to supply drugs. Although this seems grim, Lee has left his life of drugs and addiction behind him and doesn’t plan on going back. Here’s his story:
My life went upside-down when my dad died.
I was only seven years old and my brother was eight at the time. We were from a small town in Klang and were forced to move to an even more shady part of Klang to live in a council house. That’s when our problems really began and I was a teenage drug dealer.
Starting a life in crime
When we first moved, my brother and I got close. We were the only Chinese kids at school so you can imagine people bullied us pretty badly – we had to fight back. It was either eat or be eaten out there.
At the end of each school day, we would shoplift from wherever we could: supermarkets or bookstores, but even sundry shops that were near to us were options as well. Most times we’d steal food or small things we wanted as kids. Later on, it became pens or any stationery that we could sell to other kids at school.
As for life at home, there was a twist with my stepdad. He was a vicious, wild man who didn’t want us. He started to ‘discipline’ us, which is what most people would call beating. When I was about 9 or 10 he’d beaten me so badly I ended up in hospital.
I’m not proud of it, but my brother and I ended up becoming pretty violent because of it. Thankfully, mum left our stepdad and we ended up moving again.
That was when I really went off the rails at the age of 11.
The crimes got worse
The first mark on my record was for criminal damage to a car at 12 years of age – the police gave me a caution for that. The petty story went like this: some random adult rubbed a buddy of mine the wrong way, and he decided to rally a few of his friends (me and my brother included) to smash the windows and lights of his BMW. That was all it was, pretty stupid isn’t it?
By now you should be able to tell that I didn’t surround myself with the best people.
Then I started to misuse drugs. It started off with a joint a day but gradually got heavier until I was using drugs every chance I had. By the age of 15 or 16, I was drinking alcohol, taking pills, and smoking at least 4 joints a day. All funded by the money I made from stealing.
Then I got caught for theft and received another caution. By then I had also managed to escape from getting caught for four burglaries, and intent to harm someone else’s life. One of my comrades didn’t get so lucky though, as he was arrested for attempted murder because of the last one, which really scared me.
I’d skive off school and spend more time doing my favourite things: shoplifting and doing lots of drugs. Around this time, things were really breaking down at home so I started to run away – I ran away from home about 25 to 30 times in the space of 3months.
I started dealing drugs at the age of 16
Things really unraveled for me. I had left home, stopped going to school, and got fired from my cleaning job. I had to get by, and by getting by I mean that my addiction was getting the best of me.
The only business I had any experience with was the cannabis industry, so I relied on only selling weed and robbing to get cash.
One of my so-called friends introduced me to all sorts of pills and the different kinds of weed, which he was selling for somebody else. The problem was, he’d smoked off the entire supply he had and got himself fired. So I got offered the job instead, which gave me a nice bit of cash-in-hand.
I’d help sell about RM10,000 worth of drugs per week, of which me and my mate got a 10% cut – so between us we got roughly RM500 each. Our market mainly comprised customers of an older demographic. I don’t know what they were thinking buying off a bunch of kids, but we weren’t complaining one bit.
When I got more customers, I earned around a peak of RM1000 a day. That was when I got hooked on more kinds of drugs (because I could afford it) and my life went even more downhill. In one day, I could spend around RM200-300 just to fulfill my addiction, as well as drink a liter of cheap whisky you’d get at a convenience store.
Safe to say, times were tough.
Getting caught when I was a teenage drug dealer
I was 17 when I was caught for four counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs: one actual supply of diamorphine (heroin), four possessions of cannabis, and possession of an offensive weapon. Three other offenses were taken into consideration, including common assault.
When I went to court I was told I had carried out a grave crime. If I was 18 I could’ve received two life sentences for what I did.
So I did my time in a juvenile prison as a young offender.
And today, almost 5 years since I got out, I’m proud to say that I am off all the drugs and also trying to stop smoking tobacco (I’ve been smoking ever since my dad passed). I will be under an intensive supervision programme for at least the next 5 years. I’ll live in a different area, and live with either my mum or brother.
I also plan on settling down with a job, a job that would require me to come back to jail. Except this time I won’t be an offender, but a drugs worker. My drugs worker was amazing to me in prison, and I want to help other people get through what I went through.
For more stories like this, read: I Was Busted with Drugs in Indonesia: Here’s My Story
and “Gangsters Wanted Me To Transport Their Drugs” My Life As A Taxi Driver Of 20 Years
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