Locked In with Ian Bick
Locked In with Ian Bick

I Smuggled Hashish Internationally in the 70s & 80s — Here's How I Did It | Scott Gussin

August 27, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Scott Gussin was 21 years old in 1973 when he drove a Volkswagen bus out of Morocco with 43.5 pounds of hashish encased inside a homemade bed, sealed under a layer of rock-hard polyurethane resin. He had no prior smuggling experience. He had never even been to Europe. The bus made it through three military roadblocks in Morocco, a 45-minute search at the ferry terminal, and a cursory inspection upon arrival in Spain before being shipped to Montreal and driven across the Vermont border. The hash sold within two weeks. Gussin’s take was $20,000 — roughly $140,000 in today’s money. The trip was the high point of a 37-year career in the drug business that began when he was 15 and ended, after a DEA scare, with him working hourly jobs in his 70s.

The Hash vs. Weed Distinction

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (02:36) **Introduction and Early Life** - Scott Gussin introduces himself and describes his childhood in Port Chester, New York, growing up after his mother's death.
  • 2 (10:03) **First Business and Introduction to Drugs** - Scott describes his early entrepreneurial spirit and his first experiences with weed and hash.
  • 3 (16:00) **Hash vs. Weed: A Connoisseur's Breakdown** - Scott explains the key differences between hash and weed, and the quality of products in the 60s and 70s.
  • 4 (23:35) **The Drug Business and Law Enforcement Ignorance** - Scott details the economics of his dealing and describes how naive law enforcement was in the late 60s.
  • 5 (44:33) **Avoiding Vietnam and College for Contacts** - Scott explains how he avoided the draft and how college was a platform for his business.
  • 6 (54:54) **The Morocco Plan: From Cocaine to Hash** - Scott describes how his first major smuggling trip was planned, starting with a failed cocaine deal.
  • 7 (65:11) **The Trip to Morocco and Buying the Hash** - Scott details the journey to Morocco and the midnight meeting to buy the hash.

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Show Notes

Scott Gussin grew up in New York, lost his mother at seven years old in a moment that changed the direction of everything that followed, fell into selling weed and hash and LSD coming of age in the 1960s and 70s, and eventually built one of the most specific and most audacious international drug smuggling operations available — bringing hash from Morocco to the United States across a career that spanned thirty years before it finally ended.

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#crimestory #drugsmugglers #truecrimestories

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Thank you to AG1 & HUNGRYROOT for sponsoring this episode:

AG1: For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at https://drinkag1.com/lockedin

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Hungryroot: Explore my Hungryroot Digital Cookbook "The Commissary Upgrade" at https://hungryroot.com/LOCKEDIN

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Buy Scott's Book:

https://www.amazon.com/Gus-All-Years-Combined-Samson/dp/B0H34MTKSV

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Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick:

https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en

https://ianbick.com/

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Timestamps:

00:00 Roadblock with hash on board 00:37 Guest intro: Scott's story 00:57 Growing up in Portchester 01:21 Losing his mom at 7 03:37 A parade of housekeepers 06:59 The housekeepers get weird 08:03 Getting into weed at 15 10:42 Meeting Reuben and the LSD 13:58 Hash vs. weed explained 17:28 Pricing the product 20:00 Spotting 'heads' back then 22:45 Only two straight jobs 25:05 The ignorant law enforcement 26:18 Cops don't recognize hash 27:25 A trippy traffic stop 32:26 Acid buddy becomes a JW 37:23 After high school 38:18 Dodging the Vietnam draft 40:56 College for connections 44:40 Hitching with a pound of weed 46:16 The business mindset 47:42 Leaving college for California 48:09 Meeting Cassidy and the Morocco plan 50:47 The cocaine trip that wasn't 54:30 Selling the boat, new plan 57:03 Bringing Stella along 58:59 Buying the VW bus 01:01:39 Buying hash on the mountain 01:05:28 Driving with 44 pounds 01:07:09 Coming upon a roadblock 01:10:47 Getting past the roadblock 01:13:52 Setting up at the beach house 01:16:34 Building the secret stash bed 01:18:57 A month in Morocco 01:20:00 The sign to leave 01:22:45 The Moroccan customs search 01:27:20 The ferry and the dolphins 01:28:24 Easy entry into Spain 01:32:40 Cassidy's anger and laughter 01:33:46 Shipp

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