Much has already been written about the demise of the print newspaper industry as digital disruptions change the world of journalism, but we should be talking about what will happen to the old-fashioned paperboy/weed delivery person once Americans can start getting their buds delivered via drone or whatnot in a few years.
This time, however, it was the cops and not technology that put an alleged weed dealer out of business in Buffalo, N.Y. when he was busted for possession while delivering the upstate city's hometown newspaper, The Buffalo News.
Luckily, The Buffalo News is a news gathering operation, so they were able to report on the newspaper carrier's legal woes themselves. Apparently, the paperboy, who at 58 years old was way more of a paperman, was arrested after someone gave the police an anonymous tip about a guy selling drugs on his morning delivery route, the Erie County Sheriff's Office told the newspaper.
Douglas Lukehart was pulled over along the route and had his vehicle searched with a K-9 because he matched the description from the tip, deputies said. When deputies allegedly discovered a bag of marijuana wrapped inside a newspaper, Lukehart was arrested. The News reported that Lukehart is an independent contractor and not an actual employee of the newspaper.
Trying to make your regular job do double duty as a drug hustle doesn't always work out. A woman in Pittsburgh who was allegedly selling drugs from the drive-thru window of a McDonald's where she worked was arrested there in 2014, and before that, a pair of UPS workers were busted for attempting to deliver 30 pounds of weed in Brooklyn.
