Teen dealers as future entrepreneurs - expanding the theory.

In my first post (link at bottom of the page for those who missed it), I argued that you could spot who would make successful careers in business in later life by looking at the kids in high-school who were selling drugs. I ended that post with the line "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."

Developing the idea:

I'd like to develop that idea more in this post: I suggest that instead of locking kids up when we find them dealing, we should be giving them the opportunity to start their own "straight" businesses. These kids have got to grips with all of the traditional essentials of running their own business, and with the advent of dark markets, they're often even developing online skills and learning about cryptocurrency. Why not encourage them down a straighter path?

How different would these kid's lives be if instead of incarcerating them we put them in to an intensive business program, teaching them how to set up their own legitimate businesses? A criminal conviction puts a big black mark against their names. Going to prison for any length of time can't do anything but encourage anti-authority sentiment, meaning these kids will be far less likely to be productive, law-abiding members of society in the future. Quite the opposite: These kids who showed that they were canny businessmen of the future won't now be able to get business loans and so will be more or less forced back to illicit business activities if they want to continue to make the most of their natural talents in the world of commerce. Not to mention the fact that putting these bright teens in a place full of "real" criminals from whom they often learn techniques for committing more serious crimes is just obviously a bad idea.

I can envisage a system when instead of a first strike for distribution of a controlled substance, we give kids some start-up capital and a business mentor. someone who can guide them through setting up their own limited company, explain the process for filing their books and introducing them to other gifted entrepreneurs.

The problems

I suppose the most obvious downside of the kind of program I'm advocating is that once it became widely known, it would actively incentivise teens to begin to deal drugs in order to get this kind of help. I wonder whether a similar system could be devised where no such perverse incentive was inherent?

Can you spot any other limitations of this approach? I would be really keen to develop and/or critique this idea further if anyone would like to join me in a discussion in the comments section...

Does anyone reading this know if a program with this kind of approach has ever been tried? It feels like the kind of progressive idea which the Dutch might have given a trial?!

Link to my first post: (https://steemit.com/drugs/@freewill/does-teen-drug-dealing-predict-future-business-success).