Smokescreen

by robert-sabbag

This is a story from the long-ago days of Colombian marijuana smuggling--long ago, because most of the pot now smoked in the United States is grown domestically, and the top narcotics import from Colombia is cocaine. Author Robert Sabbag tells the tale of Allen Long, who got involved in this unsavory business in the 1970s because he wanted to provide high-quality cannabis for his buddies and also for the sheer adventure of it. Some readers will find Long a disconcerting protagonist--he's a drug smuggler, after all--though it may appeal to advocates of drug legalization and readers of High Times . Sabbag essentially romanticizes Long's activities, such as when he writes about the "rather consoling absence of gunplay" that marked the business of marijuana smuggling in its primitive past. The storytelling is adequate, but parts of Loaded are plainly padded. Here's a bit of sample "This is really great pot." "You like that?" "I don't think I've ever smoked anything better." A better and more hardheaded book on Colombian drug smuggling is Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo . --John Miller

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Drugs, True Crime, Collections, Crime

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[John Marricco]

One of the most fun and entertaining books I've read in awhile.

[Joe]

Ha Ha, I think I knew the hero of this story.. Why isn't this a movie? It's about the first "dudes" to smuggle Columbian Gold into the USA. Insane pilots, righteous dopers, bandidos and cops--all here and an easy quick read.
I took off a star for the author's occasional flippant attitude
towards the subject as well as some cultural faux-pas ( he does NOT know his sixties rock and roll man"
quote:
"Entire Ivy League Hockey teams were playing games while tripping on acid. It's sometimes difficult to remember that there was a time when almost half of the country was zonked out of it's gourd."

[Claudia]

I really wanted to give this no stars but maybe half a star is worth it because I did get through the book but it was very boring...I think there were three chapters (or what felt like it) basically describing one flight. It was just far too technical to be exciting. I never felt connected to or rooting for the protagonist and this is a biography! I feel like I learned next to nothing about the marijuana trade of the time so I can’t even say it was worthwhile as a historical work. Too bad, I was looking forward to it. Big yawn;(

[Andrea Ryan]

The story of Allen Long, aspiring filmmaker turned prolific pot smuggler. Also a daily pot smoker and cocaine user, he managed to be the top smuggler of the best Colombian marijuana for years. The book focuses on his dealings with the Colombians and his American partners. Nothing too exciting happens and the writing is not impressive. The brief history lessons in the book were my favorite part.

[Ben Attwood]

This is a book about a man who gets into smuggling plane loads of Cannabis from South America. Once you get through the initial excitement and interest it becomes fairly repetitive. I didn't finish it.

If this subject area interests you try Mr Nice by Howard Marks. A fascinating read.

[The Villan]

Good easy read. Interesting insight into the marihuana drug smuggling trade with some shocking revelations about CIA and local police involvement. Similar story to the movies Blow and American Made

[N.K.]

For someone who came of age in the 70’s, the drug culture was a major focal point. This was a fun read. Not quite as good as Snow Blind in my opinion but still fun and worthwhile.

[Geoff]

A great story that's really well told. How someone can stumble into major crime and then continue stumbling....

[Simone Subliminalpop]

Ci sarebbero tutte le caratteristiche per credere di trovarsi di fronte a qualche sceneggiatura in procinto di trasformarsi in film. Invece è una storia vera, una storia anni ’70, una storia tra le Americhe (quella ricca del nord, in un senso, e quella altrettanto ricca del sud, in un altro), una storia con milioni di dollari e tonnellate di droga spostati con noncurante semplicità, una storia che rappresenta il bello, ma anche il limite, di questo libro.

[Punk]

Non-Fiction. Supposedly a true account of Allen Long and his adventures smuggling marijuana out of Colombia, but this was in the 1970s and all the participants were regularly fucked up on weed and coke and quaaludes, and the book was published in 2002, and Sabbag doesn't explain how he came by this information or when his interviews(?) were conducted, so, whatever. Its status as non-fiction is questionable is all I'm saying. I read it like an action-thriller, and it easily works on that level. It's written in a lofty kind of testosterone-fueled language with a noir influence, which is sometimes awesome, and sometimes eye-rollingly over the top.

Three stars. A pretty tight narrative for a biography, enjoyable enough, but not really my thing. Has an index and some color plates with photographs, one of which mysteriously contradicts its caption and even the text itself.

[Steve]

I was expecting either a laugh-a-minute conflagration or a really intense read. Instead, the main protagonist quickly progresses from stress-filled smuggling to the dull (with brief moments of intense life-or-death decisions) aspects of being a major supplier who relies on his network of cronies to continue his enterprise.

Thankfully, the book wasn't overly verbose (unlike my review) and I was able to finish before it became painful.

Would probably make a great movie, though. Baby boomers will love it.

[Gavin]

Could I first mention that whoever added this book to Goodreads is a supremely unfunny human being. Read the name in full: Robert Paper Sabbag sonds like Robert papers a bag. Ho, ho, I don't think. His name is Robert Sabbag, he also wrote Snowblind.

The title is also all one word, for your information, that is it is Smokescreen.

Anyway, this is another biography of a drug smuggler with the names changed to protect the guilty.

[David Ward]

Loaded: A Misadventure on the Marijuana Trail by Robert Sabbag (Little, Brown & Co. 1992) (364.1) is a book about marijuana smuggling from Columbia to the USA in the 1960's and 1970's. Sabbag's previous adventure was the book Snowblind: A Brief Career in the Cocaine Trade and was about smuggling cocaine. The book is a grand adventure for those of us who missed the trip. My rating: 6.5/10, finished 1/23/11.

[Trawets]

Smoke screen by Robert Sabbag, follows Allen Long's journey from wannabe documentry film maker to marjuana smuggler to drug dealer to eventual honest citie once more.
Told in an easy laconic amoral style it's set mainly in Columbia in the late 1960's and 1970's but before the drug cartels turned the country into a killing field.
If you're prepared to suspend judgement then hop aboard for an at times hairy flight, nervous air passengers may want to skip the first chapter.

[Gavin]

Journalism cum biography (no sniggers please). Sabbag writes about various incidents in the life of a drug smuggler with a great deal of style. His prose moves along at a rapid pace and the book is over before you know it, at least it was for me. This review would apply equally to Snowblind.

[Julie]

I had to return this to the library before finishing it, but I will get back to it. What I've read so far is excellent.

[Erik]

AWESOME

[Tica Perri]

have I chosen the wrong career field?

[Ken]

very good read.

[Alicia]

Very entertaining, interesting information on airplanes. Took 50+ pages to find a rhythm.

[Marc Rocket]

I think I'll read it again.

[Darrell Austin]

Great read takes you on a journey..

[Chris]

This book lumbers along like the slow moving DC-3 used to transport the dope. These are the most boring outlaws ever committed to print.

[Tom Nolan]

paperback 6x9