Kermit Schweidel is the author of “Folly Cove: A Smuggler’s Tale of the Pot Rebellion.” It’s the story of the pot business beginning in El Paso in the 1970s.
“This is how really the business of pot got started,” he says, “I’m not saying that these are the guys that pioneered the business, but they were among the first.”
Schweidel says they were convinced they were going to see marijuana become legalized.
“We wanted to make all the money we could, while we could,” he says.
Folly Cove is a real place in Massachusetts. At the height of tourist season, Schweidel says it becomes one of the most densely populated coastlines in the United States. It was there that he and his cohorts conducted one of the most audacious smuggles ever attempted.
“We ran 28 tons of pot right through the middle of the north shore in the height of summer through a house made of glass,” he says, “Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of product changed hands on a handshake.”
He says the people who ended up with the money from his business were the attorneys.
“You’re gonna get caught. You always get caught,” he says, “Sooner or later you’ll have to pay the price, but it was a grand adventure.”
Written by Amber Chavez.