From time to time, your customers will try to buy some pot when they don't have any money. For me, buying a sack on money I don't have yet would be about as humiliating as getting pantsed in a shopping mall. But everyone these days, businesses and individuals alike, seem to be working on money that they don't have. (Which is why I think American economy is on the verge of complete collapse.) So some people don't feel any shame in asking for a front.

The question is, will pe pay you back, and how long will it take?

A few things to consider when deciding whether or not to front someone weed and allow them to pay you later: first, if pe rips you off, there's usually very little you can do about it. You can't call the cops, and taking some sort of vengeance is usually more risk than it's worth, especially for small time deals. The only real weapon you have is guilt and the loss of your friendship. Gauge the person's personality and your emotional closeness to decide if these weapons would be enough to keep per honest. Also analyze per real financial situation and per history of money management.

Remember that just because someone swears that pe is good for the money, doesn't mean that pe really is. In fact, people who talk about how honest and trustworthy they are usually are just the opposite. A truly trustworthy person is modest, and takes honesty for granted, so does not go around bragging about per own trustworthiness.

Second, keep in mind that if someone takes a long time to pay you back for a larger quantity, then your money is tied up with that person, and if that prevents you from re-supplying in time to make another deal, then you're losing money. If you have enough side-cash that you don't normally use for drug dealing, then this isn't so much of an issue.

Third, keep in mind that no matter how well you know someone, it's possible that something can come up and things can change.

Fourth, remember that all drug dealers get burned once in a while. Just like a department store has to factor shoplifting and employee theft into each month's accounting, occasionally you'll get ripped off. So don't front anything that you can't afford to lose.

When you do decide to front, especially if you're fronting smaller quantities, make sure to write it all down, because it's amazing how easy it is to forget. I once came up short for a deal and my dealer was nice enough to front me $300 of it. A week later I bought another supply, and gave him that $300 as well as the money for the deal. He looked baffled and even after I explained that I owed him money, it took him a few moments to remember. "It seemed like I was missing something," he told me.

Sometimes you will come across situations where someone wishes for you to front money in order to re-supply. If you don't know anyone else who sells in the quantity you need, sometimes fronting money is unavoidable. This is usually more stressful, as you're fronting much more than just a sack, you're trusting your investment money to a middle-man who will use your money to go to a dealer and buy your pot for you.

This is obviously not an ideal situation because if the middle-man isn't trustworthy, pe might steal the money from you and skip town. If pe doesn't know what pe's doing, pe might get ripped off perself, then be unable to pay back the fronted money. And the other, more minor disadvantage is that someone else gets to check out the weed for you, so you have to trust per judgment on what's good weed and trust that pe will make sure it's weighed appropriately. You may get under-weighed ounces and QP's, and on rare occasions, pot that is so moist it'll start growing mold within a few days, just because you're forced to trust someone else's judgment.

So fronting money to re-supply is something to avoid, but like I said it's unavoidable sometimes, when times are tough.

If you do front money, make sure you have a set timeline so you know at what point you can start to worry, and a backup plan if the deal doesn't go through (as deals often don't for one reason or another.) And treat your front as though you were gambling. Figure out your odds based on the honesty and competence of the middle-man as compared to the amount of money you stand to make-or lose.