Rare first issue of DEALER, the industry magazine for drug dealers — full of advertisements for things to put up your nose and optimistic predictions of imminent legalization only wrong by three or four decades.
Near fine.
Price: $500.00
"He strikes a match, lights up and offers you a hit. He may be a legitimate head or he may be a narc setting you up. What should you say or do?"
DEALER'S intended readership were the proprietors and suppliers of "paraphernalia shops, record stores, clothing boutiques and gift, novelty, book, plant, natural food, craft, smoke, and myriad other shops," all of whom were expected to benefit from insider business tips as marijuana consumers multiplied and demanded more and better paraphernalia from their local retailers. Unfortunately for both the magazine and head shops across the nation, the DEA's mid-'70s crackdown on drug trafficking soon included the passage of 1979's Model Drug Paraphernalia Act, which outlawed the sale, delivery, and advertisement of such drug paraphernalia as DEALER's ad pages featured: wizard bongs, 18-karat gold quaalude replica pendants, marijuana leaf brass belt buckles, at-home Isomizers ("Don't Blow Yourself Up"), Golden Nose coke stash bottles, and the like. Of the many wonders listed in DEALER, very soon the only businesses still able to freely and legally advertise would be the makers of miniature dragon sculptures, battery-powered "Star Jewels" for wearing to Star Trek conventions, and silkscreened lion t-shirts. A scarce and noble monument to a misjudged moment.
First edition. New York: Trans-High Corporation, 1976. 11'' x 8''. Original pictorial saddle-stapled wrappers. 72 pages. Light edgewear, minor creasing to wrappers. Sharp and bright.
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