The prospect of making a relatively good income in a short space of time often outweighed the risk of undertaking 'one off' periods of drug dealing activity.
But - despite the plea for legalisation made over the weekend by Sir David Ramsbotham, outgoing chief inspector of prisons, which is echoed in private by a number of senior police officers - there is no prospect of the government undertaking the radical overhaul of drugs that is now urgently needed.
The prospect of such an undertaking terrified and inspired Ponifasio at first but he was compelled to sign on.
"Without the prospect of needed funding, we cannot undertake this project at the same time we are facing significant financial challenges that affect the entire Smithsonian," Mr. Clough said in the same statement.
Campaigners say many claimants are often assessed incorrectly and that the government should accept that many sick and disabled people have such severe health problems that there is no current prospect of their being able to undertake work or work-related activities.
Adam Brandon, who accompanied Armey in North Carolina and is the press secretary for FreedomWorks, told me he was excited by the prospect of more direct action — like that undertaken by antiwar demonstrators in the '60s or, more recently, anti-abortion and other social conservatives.
I can't share this upbeat assessment because, for several reasons, I remain pessimistic about the prospects of this entire undertaking.
The government undertaking raises the prospect of the asylum seekers languishing on board an Australian vessel on the high seas for an unknown period of time or potentially being directly transferred to one of Australia's offshore detention centres in Papua New Guinea or the tiny island state of Nauru.
We discuss some of the controversies surrounding work experience: people reportedly being forced to undertake work experience, unpaid, with no prospect of a job at the end of it.
That, claims Macquarie, gives it an incentive to undertake capital expenditure, since it has a prospect of earning a decent return over the long term.
