Does teen drug dealing predict future business success?

The theory:

I have had this theory for some time now. The basic premise isn't exactly new... The link between drug dealing and entrepreneurial success is pretty obvious: in order to be a successful dealer, you need a firm grip on business concepts such as accounting, marketing, customer service, retail, wholesale, mark-up, up-selling etc.

My theory goes a little further than this though: I believe that you can spot which kids will be successful entrepreneurs by looking for the ones selling drugs to their friends in high-school.

I ran in to the guy who used to sell me baggies as a teen recently and he told me he was now running one of the most successful online investment blogs in the country. Then I started thinking about the other guys I knew who sold drugs when I was growing up. I realised that 90% of them were now running their own successful businesses. It got me thinking about the idea again, so I decided to do a bit of digging in to it...

Developing the idea:

To be honest I didn't really know where to start. The problem is, most successful business people don't go around bragging about how they made £200 a week in high-school shotting skunk to their crimson-eyed friends. But that's not always the case. I recalled this line from a song: "I got raps full of substance and wraps full of substances". Some highly successful people actually make a living by bragging about slinging dope... It's no secret that P. Diddy, 50 Cent, and Jay Z all started out as drug pushers before finding fame in the rap game.

So at first glance, I thought, the theory might have some legs. But I wondered whether any solid research had been done on the matter. After a significant amount of time digging through scholarly articles which discussed the negative effects of drugs, incarceration rates of young teens, and one hilarious documentary from the 60's about the dangers of marijuana, I finally stumbled across some research which appeared to support my theory.

In his paper “Drug dealing and legitimate self-employment,” Rob Fairlie (economist) examines the statistical relationship between teen drug dealing and being an entrepreneur as an adult. Much as I have here, Fairlie notes that the same personality traits, skills and characteristics that lead people to deal drugs in their youth are the same as those which lead people to become entrepreneurs in adult life.

I'd love to find more research on this subject. If you know of any other scholarly articles or research papers on this, please don't hesitate to drop me a line.

What are your thoughts on the subject? Where are the kids who sold you dope in high-school now?

In my opinion, if you can get away with it, and avoid any time behind bars (which to be fair, is a BIG if), drug dealing might just set you up for a high-flying career in business.

Here's a link to my second blog post - which explores this idea further and discusses the logical consequences of accepting the theory: https://steemit.com/marijuana/@freewill/teen-dealers-as-future-entrepreneurs-expanding-the-theory-and-an-initial-analysis-of-the-logical-consequences-of-accepting-it

Here's a link to the paper I cited: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/339610?journalCode=jole