Drug Dealers Told Us How They’re Preparing for Their Biggest Night in a Year

When nightclubs across the UK shut down last March, lots of dealers were left with the kind of drugs people don’t tend to buy during a quiet 15 months of enforced quarantine.

However, this coming Monday, the 19th of July, those dealers are back in business. With nightclubs in England readying their doors for an endorphin-starved public, dealers are bracing for one of their biggest nights in over a year. Back on the menu: MDMA, pills, ketamine and – of course – enough cocaine to fuel 500 Wembley stadiums. 

Ahead of England’s club-kids returning to their strobe-lit arenas, I asked three dealers how they’re preparing for next week. Everyone asked to go by a pseudonym, because what they do is highly illegal.

“Robin”, Guildford
Sells mainly cocaine, plus some cannabis, NOS, pills and ketamine

Over lockdown, prices for Class As fucking skyrocketed, man. In some cases, they doubled, with a kilo of coke going up from £35,000 to £50,000 or more. Obviously no one was going out, so less wanted to pick up party drugs, but the supply halted completely – no one was driving or delivering on the roads, it was way too risky.

Pills were almost impossible to get hold of. Ket, not so much, but nobody really wanted it. But with everything opening up, pills and coke are cheap as hell now. There’s too much of the stuff.

You don’t get clubs re-opening without a demand for some coke, K and pills, so a lot of my boys will be working hard next week. But the reopening has been completely overshadowed by the football.

These past two weeks have been the busiest going. The coke demand has been insane. I mean, you know what British people are like – one pint and a couple of goals, and everyone wants to get a bag in. You’ve never seen a country go so mad. The profit I’ve made from the cocaine market this month has increased over 200 percent, I’d say. Over the Euros, I made around £10,000 profit on coke sales in two weeks.

People are still buying ket and pills, but so far it’s only been at illegal raves. I’ve sold a fair bit at them over lockdown, but you really need to know people. I’ve got a boy who has this huge double decker bus, which he would park in different places during proper lockdown. People would pay to get on and I’d just supply them with whatever they needed.

Next week should be big, but I don’t expect to make as much as I did during the Euros. All the money is in coke, and British football fans fucking love the stuff. I’ll be selling some pills and K, but I’m not gonna start pushing that heavily until festivals properly start again, when people need to be kept going for a good few days.

Over the past few years, pills have been used less. Ket is definitely the rising star. But ket ain’t addictive, like coke. So that’s where most of my business is, with the most reliable customers – people from all different sides of life, all using the same thing. I can’t count on my hands the amount of my mates who have lost all of their money to coke. It’s the worst drug on the face of the earth. It’s designed to fuck people. But that means it’s where all the money is.

“Scott”, Bristol
Sells cocaine, ketamine, cannabis, valium and occasionally codeine and xanax

Everything I sell is occasion-based, and the reopening of clubs was always going to be a fucking big occasion – particularly for the coke and K side of business.

Over lockdown I still dealt a lot, but it was usually lots of bud and some vallies to people bored out of their minds. The streets were empty, so it was more risky. I had to pretend to post letters into client’s houses, especially if they were in isolation, which is when everyone wanted bud.

The Euros have worked as a good trial for the big reopening. The coke demand was huge. People always buy more than they think they need. It’s more-ish, obviously – especially if it’s good. If I make my first sale at 7PM, I can guarantee lots will be back by 11PM, when the bag is gone and the buzz is wearing off. If I run out then people go elsewhere, and if the coke is better they sometimes don’t come back, so I need to keep on top of things.

People don’t realise how much goes into it – they think it’s just easy money because of the risk attached. It’s not. Your entire profit and chances of getting caught is rooted in your plan. Leading up to the 21st of June, I was working on getting a batch of coke and K in, and Boris’s delay to the 19th of July meant I lost the chance to make just under two grand on that first night.

The preparation for Monday is already in the works. But it properly starts three days before, when I try to pick up a batch of whatever I need. Then I message people on the day at least four times so they know I’m around, usually at 10AM, 3PM, 7PM and 11PM. I have a strict timetable of where I am and when people need to meet me, but yeah – mostly I’m fucking excited to get to the clubs. It’s been too long, and Bristol is the best night out in the country.

MK, Manchester / London
Sells MDMA and cannabis, and plans to start a cocaine line when clubs reopen

I’m leaving London and going back up to Manchester, just to sell for things opening. That’s going to be a big one. I’m going to turn on my line a couple of days before the 19th and put out all my reopening deals and prices. In those first few days there’s a big chance for me to make a lot of money from selling MDMA, with everyone so hell bent on going out. I try to only sell higher risk stuff and Class As in bulk to other dealers who will then sell it on.

I’m so looking forward to next week – big pockets, you know? I started shotting when I was 15, but this year at uni has gone so well that it’s funded my summer. I saw shotting in uni halls as a competition – there were two other people also trying to sell, but I was able to start picking up such a big amount due to the clientele I had, that I could lower the prices enough to put those guys out of business. I wanted all of the clients to myself.

I’m going to start a coke line soon. I have the plugs sorted and the demand is already there. It’s obviously where the money is. The plan is to come out of uni with a nice first and try to invest the money I have more legitimately. Starting my coke line will help a lot with that. But the issue with this game is that you always want more. It’s fucking addictive, man.

I’m very excited to party – we’ve waited long enough. But I’m also going to use next week, to see what’s happening in Manchester and scout the demand for the coke line. If I speak to someone and they’re trustworthy, they’ll be lucky enough to get my line number.

@izzy_copestake