Kate Mess edits, Charli XCX’s Sweat Tour, JeremeyFragrance’s ‘Power’: Cocaine is back at the forefront of pop culture. Always associated with wealth and fame, it has now made its way into many civilians’ day-to-day lives.

Published on 09 December 2024

“365, Party Girl (Bumpin’ that) / Shall we have a little key? / Shall we have a little line?” Charli XCX, 2024 Summer It-Girl, sings on her recent album release brat. The album’s marketing has made its hyperpop beats and overt drug references impossible to escape. Its success is, of course, due to Charli’s talent and PR team but also reflects a broader shift in attitudes toward casual cocaine use.

As the world grapples with economic challenges, cocaine is resurging in pop culture despite its £80-£100/gram price tag. Compared to cheaper club drugs, its glamorisation through pop culture, social media, and its artificial high price drive demand. The 2023 UNODC Global Cocaine Report reveals that the number of global cocaine users is rising at a significantly faster rate than the growth of the adult population aged 15–64​.

A large-scale drug dealer from Berlin with eight years in the business tells me: “It used to be mostly junkies, but now you see more normal people.” He also reports an increase in demand. When I ask him if the price is justified he laughs and tells me: “Not at all, [...] they produce it for a few cents.” Consumers mainly pay for the illegal transport and associated risks, but even this doesn’t justify the high prices they pay for the product. European cocaine is usually cut 2-3 times with additives like paracetamol, caffeine and amphetamines before it reaches the end-buyer. Wholesale prices have actually gone down over the years, but demand remains steady, so that suppliers maintain prices and just take a bigger profit. Artificially high prices position cocaine as a luxury drug, akin to the marketing of the Hermès Birkin. A model agrees: “It’s a luxury symbol because it’s expensive.” She tells me that showing up to fashion events with anything cheaper than cocaine would result in an embarrassing ordeal.

The fashion industry and cocaine have long been intertwined. The model describes how the demanding nature of the industry—constant travel, overnight shoots, social event after social event—normalises cocaine use: “You’re not sleeping much. Cocaine becomes the easiest way to stay energised and talkative while looking presentable.”

The current return of heroin chic and glorification of skinny bodies to popular consciousness has brought upon a trend of taking Ozempic to slim down. Models, too, feel the pressure to lose weight. My source tells me how she has been nudged toward the trending diabetes medication and rib removal. Supposedly, she is too big for Paris and Milan. She wears an XS and is about 175cm tall. Those unable to access an Ozempic prescription, or with too little funds for it, use cocaine to suppress their appetite: “Models never pay for drugs, because they’re pretty girls.” The model doesn’t know anyone in the industry who doesn’t do drugs.

“All [...] cultural associations for cocaine are glamorous,” says Rock Herzog, interior designer and former admin of the Twitter account CocaineDecor, which once boasted around 60,000 followers interested in seeing the luxury interiors you would imagine in the house of a cokehead working in finance in the 70s. He links the substance’s prestige to its visual appeal. “Aesthetically, cocaine is a glamorous-looking drug [...] you do it on a mirror or a shiny surface.” This appeal isn’t limited to tools and settings, but also extends to the people who use it. Compared to other drugs, cocaine causes less visible damage to outward appearance, the dealer explains, reinforcing its association with the beautiful and rich.

Public figures like Charli XCX, of whom a video doing a bump during a DJ set in Ibiza went viral, further glamorise cocaine’s image. The model says this has influenced her as well, justifying four-day benders, frequent orgies and drug use with ‘brat summer’. The dealer believes its popularity also has to do with the surge in health influencers and health consciousness. “[People] feel better doing coke than doing speed, which makes you sweat and smell like a chemistry lab.”

The always-steady demand for cocaine also has to do with personal positive connotations to it, offering an escape from the current grim socio-economic realities of many European citizens. “Most people do coke in the club, and have a good night––they associate good memories and happiness with cocaine”, the dealer says.

I ask him if he remembers any customers he has sold to. “Plenty”, he says. He tells me of a mother who would place orders through her son, and proclaimed in front of both son and supplier: “I like you better than my son. You always bring me something nice.” He tells me of people who starve themselves to save money for coke and people who go into debt with banks, friends and family to be able to afford their addiction. When I ask him if that makes him feel bad, he says it does. “But also not really”, he adds, “Cocaine has become a brand on its own, it’s got a name. It sells itself.”

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