I was born in 1969 and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii since I was 5. I had a good life growing up, spoiled on birthdays and Christmas plus never the slightest bit of abuse. It was the perfect childhood.
In the summer of 1987 after I graduated from high school, I joined the army when I 17 years old.
I joined the army because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, not even the slightest clue. When asked by others, such as my high school guidance counselor, what I wanted to do after high school… my response was always "I don't know ". My guidance counselor started to encourage me to see an army recruiter.
The recruiter instantly had my attention with promises of travel, adventure and a paycheck. It didn't take him more than an hour to have me ready to sign up right then and there. If it weren't for my age I would have, but at 17 I needed my mother's permission.
later that day I approached my mother to ask her permission to join the army, the sooner the better. My mother pondered my question a moment, and said yes. She explained that she was relieved that I finally seemed to have some direction, and promised that after graduation we could go see the recruiter together.
Two weeks after graduation we saw a recruiter, then two weeks after I was on my way to basic training. I had to make a deal with my mother though, in order to get her to sign the permission I needed to choose an MOS that wasn't too hardcore. I chose a radio job but with the guarantee I would go to jump school, I needed some action and airborne school seemed interesting.
The army was cool. I was active duty army for 5 years from 1987 to 1992. In that time I lived in a dozen different countries, experienced new and unusual cultures, wined and dined with beautiful women… and was in various combat zones.
I happened to pick one of the most combat deployable radio jobs the army offered and being airborne made it even more likely. I knew what I was doing when I joined, deal or no deal with my mother, I knew how to pick an MOS that could offer reasonable action with tech over brawn.
When my service came to an end in 1992, I opted not to reenlist. I went back to Honolulu to begin my civilian life and quite frankly, I was back to square one. I had no idea what to do with my life.
I easily found work using my tech skills at the cable company, and being a veteran gave me preference. The work was dull and the pay sucked, I wasn't enjoying what I was doing. After less than a year of working for the cable company, I applied for other jobs. One of which was to be a police officer.
To be honest, I didn't think the police job was what I was going to do. The application process was long with many tests and interviews over the course of about 7 months. They kept calling me in though, and I kept going in to see them.
During this time I just couldn't work for the cable company anymore, I needed action. Thankfully my mother worked in the bar industry in Waikiki and got me a neat gig as a doorman at a nightclub. The pay still sucked but at least it was fun and I was getting laid a lot, there is an endless supply of tourist women on "holiday" in Waikiki.
During the Summer of 1993 I was called by human resources from the Honolulu Police Department, they asked if I still wanted the job. I was stunned, but took the job right away. I couldn't believe it yet was happy because it sounded like something cool to do, they also paid really good starting day one of the academy.
My police academy class had around 40 recruits, I learned later that out of over 5000 applicants… it was only us they selected. Upon hearing that I felt a bit odd because I wasn't thinking in terms of being a career police officer, I was just seeking something interesting to do.
The police academy was about 8 months long. We didn't live there like in the movie but we did stay there long days. The training was top notch and the Honolulu Police Academy was nationally known for being among the best in the county. We used to be observed by other agencies all the time.
Before graduation I was approached by narco-vice and asked if I wanted to work undercover in their division. I knew they often watched us recruits to look for good undercover officers and I was one they liked. To the surprise of the academy captain I turned them down, I wanted to be a very clearly identifiable police officer. I was excited to wear the uniform and drive a police car, there was no other way to explain it. The captain thought I was crazy for missing the opportunity but said he understood.
The thrill of being a police officer soon started to wear off, despite the occasional intense incident. Endless patrolling and tons of paperwork almost made me regret not taking the narco gig, almost… I would often chat with the other guys that took the narco job and it sounded worse. Narco-vice was a lot of lying and deceit, at least they didn't deal with daily paperwork.
I began planning my escape from the police department, I wanted to see and do more. I wanted to travel again like when I was in the army.
I had a roommate at the time, I will call him 'Doug'. Doug was a good guy and we were good friends, we rented a decent apartment in Waikiki and had plenty of friends come around to visit. Since I was a former doorman turned cop and Doug was a bigtime chef we were the place to come for socializing.
One day Doug and I had a serious conversation about the state of our lives, it was a life changing discussion. We both agreed that we hated our jobs and that we both were tired of living on an island. When I told Doug I was seriously thinking of quitting the police department to travel the world, he asked me when was I leaving and if he could come with me. The only answer I could give was "Of course. "
The plan was simple, I wanted to go back to Europe. When I was in the army I was stationed for two years in Germany, which were two of my most blissful years. While in Germany I traveled all over, France, Italy, Spain, etc… but the one place I loved visiting the most was Amsterdam. This is where I wanted to go first.
Amsterdam to me was a symbol of freedom and toleration, the historic city was beautiful and the people are awesome. I won't lie, I liked the freedom to party and the access to the coffee shops where the best hash and marijuana could be found.
I wanted to do it all again as a civilian with no ties or obligations, with no bounds. I wanted to be able to go wherever and whenever I wanted.
It wasn't long before we both put our two week notices in at our jobs, I said I was leaving for personal reasons and I believe Doug told his employer because he can kiss his ass. Doug really didn't like his job.
Around Spring of 1995 we were set and left Honolulu, we had money put together, airline tickets, and passports in hand. We both didn't know it at the time, but what we were doing was going to drastically change our lives.
One of the cool things about living in the very social Waikiki environment was the amount of friends and contacts we made. It took us 3 weeks to make it to Amsterdam because of all the people we visited on our way there, but the one stop that had the most impact on our future decisions was our stop in New York City.
We went to stay with a friend, who I will call 'Kim'. Kim was both cool and gorgeous that worked as a dancer at Score's, the top gentleman's club in New York. Doug and I met her while she was visiting Hawaii, she was a good friend of a friend and came by our place in Waikiki all the time to hang out.
After we settled in, Kim asked us if we wanted to party New York style. Obviously our answer was yes. We had been partying it up since leaving Hawaii from Las Angeles to Las Vegas and now New York, so why stop a good thing?
Kim called a friend of hers to come around, 'Mike'. Mike exuded an attitude of pure New York, fast talking and confident with a touch of arrogance. I knew right away I liked Mike.
After no more than five minutes of Mike's arrival, Kim immediately asked him if he can score some X.
X, I've heard of it only twice before. I knew it was slang for the drug ecstasy and became immediately curious if Mike could get it.
I wasn't curious if he could get it because I wanted to try it, I was curious if he could even get it all. When I first heard about ecstasy, I heard it on two other occasions over the years from guys who were looking to buy it with no luck.
You would think I would've heard more about ecstasy when I was a policeman in Hawaii, but during that time ecstasy was still unheard of there. The times I did hear about it was in passing at a bar, I never gave it much thought.
Mike lit up with enthusiasm upon being asked about getting the drug and nodded that he could. He explained that they were 30 dollars each and that he can get them in half an hour.
Doug and I were down to try this ecstasy out. I've never even seen what it looked like or how it was used, but after getting a quick synopsis from Kim about how badass X was… I took 30 dollars from my pocket and gave it to Mike.
As promised, Mike returned in half an hour with 6 tablets that looked like those white 'Mentos' candies. There were a total of 6 of us by that time in Kim's apartment, two of Kim's coworkers showed up to party too… dancers from the same gentleman's club as Kim's.
It was about 10 PM as Mike passed out each tablet to us, as he did he encouraged everyone to take it right away because New York was awaiting us. It was party time. On the advice from everyone, Doug and I only took a half to begin because it was our first time trying it while everyone else took the whole pill.
Shortly after taking our pills we all piled into two taxis and headed to the China Club, one of New York's most elite night clubs. The line to get in was long but to Doug's and my amazement we all walked to the front of the line and walked right into the club. Apparently our party group had a lot of pull and I liked that.
Once inside the club something very powerful happened to me. I began to feel an exciting rush pass through me, it was a mix of that thrill before Christmas when I was a kid and the thrill of falling in love. Everything was so beautiful and interesting, the music being spun was the best ever and all the people in the club were the coolest people in the world. I was having the best time in my life.
Doug and I ended up staying in New York for a week partying and sleep was rare. Our impromptu party crew hit a different elite night club every night, and when they closed at 4 AM we stopped at every mafia sponsored after party/speakeasy to keep going. I was starting to really like the life of ecstasy and clubbing, hanging out with others using it, it was neat to see some famous people doing it too. It felt like this life was somehow a social equalizer.
On the airplane going to Amsterdam, Doug and I wondered if there was ecstasy in Amsterdam.
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