The Conversion of ‘Wally’ — Former Drug Dealer Bares His Soul

RONALD “Wally’ Richardson, a one- time drug dealer who gained much notoriety here decades ago during his involvement in the illegal activity is now calling on the youth to stay away from drugs.

Now a born-again Christian, Richardson said he had sought divine intervention in order to transform his life.

“Right now I go to the Seventh Day Adventist Church. My life has changed and I feel good about it,” Richardson told The VOICE in an interview, in which he made certain startling revelations.

He said that people had tried to woo him back into the illegal activity, but he is determined to continue to walk the straight and narrow path.

“I started selling drugs in 1963 and stopped in 2004. I will never go back into it…,” he confessed.

Richardson, 71, who lives at Augier, Vieux Fort said he has tried to educate the youth about the dangers of drugs but many of them do not take heed.

He is also calling on the government to play its role by implementing programmes that will keep the youth away from drugs.

‘I want the youth to stay away from drugs because it destroys lives. I want them to change their lives before it’s too late. There is nothing to gain by taking drugs,” he said.

Asked whether he opposed the decriminalization of marijuana, Richardson paused and said: “Well…I can’t say to legalize it. I will remain neutral on this issue. Let the government decide.”

He said despite his tribulations he endured as a drug dealer he is still close to his many children. He said he has fathered 33 children, three of whom died.

He described his home at Coco Dan in Vieux Fort where he was living at the time as the “headquarters for drugs.”

Richardson said he made much money in the trade, which at that time was very lucrative.

According to Richardson, who said he began dealing in drugs while living in Trinidad, he was able to evade the clutches of the law with the help of police officers, customs officers and magistrates.

“The police used to tell me when their colleagues were coming to raid my home,” he revealed.

He said his drugs which were hidden in his luggage used to enter the country via the airport with much ease, with the help of workers there. Richardson revealed that he would not usually travel on board the same flight bringing his drugs the country.

According to him, he used to pay a government employee $6,000 to deliver the drugs from the airport to his home.

Recounting one of his adventurous moments while in prison, he recalled once he walked out of jail with his firearm to settle a score with some men in Castries and walked back into jail.

“At that time I did not care about anything,” he said.

When asked whether he has any regrets dealing in drugs, bearing in mind the lives it had destroyed, he said “not really”.

Richardson, who is now employed as a foreman on the Short Term Employment Programme (STEP) said his plan is to go into fish vending on a large scale.