narcomania
i’d like to welcome you to powder max. might i say we’ve found your writings and the realms they’ve taken us into very intriguing.
the new paperback edition of narcomania: a journey through britain’s drug world is out on october third. it takes the reader on an enthralling journey through britain’s drug culture and some of the subject matter and scenes touched upon are quite unexpected. can you give the reader an idea of what to expect when they approach the book?
We wrote the book because we thought that there was very little known about the drug trade, how it actually works in reality – who are the dealers, and what do the cops chasing them really think. As The Wire showed, it’s more nuanced and more human than all the myth and media make out. We spoke to many people on the ground – users, dealers, cops – but also we digested a lot of the stats and studies. We depicted the media, culture and politics that feeds off and swirls around this whole scene. We have tried to strike a balance between the action on the street and the in depth research that has been done.
what did you find are the current drug trends and consumption habits in the united kingdom? were there any findings that surprised you?
Since 2009 the big thing as everyone knows has been the NPS drugs such as mephedrone and Spice and the rest. They hit the UK big time, and a year later (usually the UK follows the US, for eg crack) this was echoed in the US. NPS stepped into the gap left open by what had become low quality and unreliable mainstream drugs such as coke and MDMA. The fact kids could buy them online, coupled with the inadvertent PR push the media had given these drugs by plastering them all over the front pages, meant they went stratospheric. Now the dam has been opened on online NPS sales, it will not be shut. What surprises me is that these days people will shove anything into any part of their body without having much of a clue as to what it is. The drug trade is now a giant mash up, a grey zone consisting of a mix of old school drugs, over the counter pills, mystery online powders, all washed down with the old favourite, booze. Consumption habits is exactly right – this is not toking on a spliff or dropping LSD as some part of the 1960s act of idealism, this is pure, raw consumerism, getting the best new hit for the cheapest price in the quickest time possible.
your investigations took you into some dicey situations on both sides of the law. were there any situations where you felt concerned for your safety?
One day we went up to the north of England to interview a heavily built, tattoo-covered drug gangster who ran the coke, crack and heroin trade in a large town. He picked us up from the train station and started doing the obligatory driving moves to lose unmarked police. He took us to a posh restaurant in the middle of nowhere and we had nowhere to run. We offered to pay for his (way too expensive) meal because that is what we do for interviewees, but he demanded more. He strong-armed us into paying him £1,000 ‘respect money’, which we didn’t really have as we are merely humble journalists with kids to raise. But because he started getting red and angry it was an offer we felt we couldn’t refuse. Although we felt he had ‘seen us coming’, the interview was a high quality one and he really opened up, and it was all smiles and handshakes at the end and he dropped us back at the station. We later found out that he keeps two machetes in the boot of his car and that if we had refused to pay him his respect money he may have been forced to take a detour in the woods on the way back to the station.
what would you say was the most extraordinary thing you came across whilst researching the book?
How big the drug trade is on the five star hotel scene. We interviewed a coke dealer whose entire clientele at one point was rich businessmen who had rented out super-luxury suites in London’s swankiest hotels for 24 hour coke and escort girl sessions. The hotel industry admits that hotels turn a blind eye to this because these rich people’s custom is too valuable to lose. So it’s the rich guys and their drugs or no rich guys at all. Most five star hotels are basically high class crack houses.
you mention a high class women’s club that serves drugs; what was that place like?
As I was not a member I had it described to me in great detail by someone who was a member. It was relaxed but sophisticated, with drinks, quiet chatter and a waiter service. It had menus listing different drugs and prices and the one rule of the place (to deter undercover reporters and police) was that you had to take your first dose at the club.
what is your viewpoint on the current prohibitionist system? do you see it as an adequate way to deal with the drug situation?
The current system maintains the criminalisation of young people, either because they are using or selling drugs. It maintains stigma: the negative view with which people who are suffering from addiction are viewed by others who are more lucky. Because of this, nations have a duty to act and to experiment - take a leap into the dark, because the present system is so damaging to people. To a certain extent, the drug debate exists in two worlds: the everyday life on the street and the sometimes ivory tower debate about legalization vs zero tolerance held in universities and current affairs TV shows. The problem is that whatever you tinker with at the top in terms of the letter of the law goes, the key aim has to be to deal with the reasons why people have to turn to drugs as a way of solving their lives.
what do you see as an alternative to the current paradigm?
1. increasing harm reduction and no prison for people who use or sell small amounts of drugs. 2. looking at legitimate ways of producing drugs so they are taken out of hands of criminals. 3. creating a more equal world, where people do not have to become addicted to using and selling drugs because they have little chance in life.
recently you attended the international harm reduction conference in lithuania, which is a gathering of former and current drug users discussing ways to reduce the damage being done to drug users due to the war on drugs. what was that experience like?
I loved it. I met drug users from around the world and possibly that’s more interesting than meeting hoover salesmen from around the world, however I could be completely wrong. There was not just drug users there but activists, scientists, health experts and politicians from all over the world – and what was at the top of everyone’s agenda was compassion, in there’s not a lot of that going around at the moment. I would recommend anyone goes to the next one, there is always far more interesting information to digest than is humanly possible. As an aside, the Lithuanians brew this amazing fresh beer, named after the capital, Vilnius, once you have one pint you basically have to have about 10.
lastly, how did you find yourself getting into this drug specific line of journalism?
Drugs is the most interesting subject available I reckon. It beats writing about insurance or interviewing dozy celebs. I worked at the Big Issue magazine in London (sold by the homeless) for 5 years and covered a lot of social issues such as crime, housing and prisons. I found drugs and crime the most interesting aspect of this. Then it seemed a natural move to edit Druglink magazine, the specialist UK drugs magazine for 8 years, before deciding to write Narcomania - seeing as I had too much info on drugs in my brain I needed to park it somewhere.
i’d like to thank you once again for speaking to us here at powder max. we look forward to picking up a copy of nacromania when it’s released on october third.
Pleasure was all mine, Powderzine.
