UK dealers are claiming to sell ethically sourced cocaine at £200 a gram, but drug experts dub it a “woke coke con”.
In Britain, a new market has emerged for so-called “ethically-sourced” cocaine, and it’s in high demand across the country.
Where the standard price for a gram in the UK stands at £30-£40 (55-74 AUD), the ethically sourced version is selling for up to £200 (370 AUD).
Image: Carlos Julio Martinez
It is said to be sourced from well-paid farmers, but it seems obvious to be a marketing tool to drive up prices.
Don’t forget, dealers are businesspeople too.
Speaking to The Mirror, Drug Policy expert Neil Woods has dubbed the new trend the “woke coke con”.
“I have been shown ads for ‘environmentally-friendly sniff’ but it’s nothing but a very clever marketing ploy… I call it the ‘woke coke con'”.
The reality is that ethical production is not possible in the unregulated market. Moreover, that the market is unregulated is what has enabled the trend to take hold. Without laws dictating the branding of cocaine, dealers can say whatever they want to sell their product.
So you’re vegan yeh, where did you get your ethically sourced cocaine?
— fuchsia🌺 (@fuchsia_rileyx) May 22, 2020
Likely, buyers are just getting the same product at 5 times the price.
Colombian aid worker Bibiana Villota emphasised the deceit behind “woke coke”, asserting that there is no ethical production of cocaine in Columbia.
“The trade inevitably involves bloodshed, the destabilisation of communities and an appalling cycle of violence. If demand goes up, so does production and the cycle of destruction continues,” she said.
“What you call fair trade cocaine is only going to bring more greed and bloodshed,” she explained to The Mirror.
The ploy is targeted at millennials who are conscious of the environment and want to avoid the guilt of unethical consumption.
However, actress Davina Taylor admitted that woke coke is popular in the affluent British district, Chiswick.
“In Chiswick everyone’s got woke coke – it’s from ‘sustainable sources’ in South America. “They’re like, ‘Hi, darling, I’ve got woke coke. It’s all PC, £200 a gram’,” she said.
“They’ve got their vegan food, their organic wine and their woke coke and a spliff going. They say, ‘It’s fine, it’s fine, I know it’s sustainable, we’re actually putting back into the countryside’. When you look back on the hypocrisy, it’s bulls**t.”
The cocaine industry brings an estimated $6bn US dollars (8bn AUD) to Central America each year.
Almost 90 per cent of cocaine trafficked around the world comes through Central America, and it is a key threat to the tropical rainforest in the region. Some estimates suggest it causes the destruction of up to 100,000 hectares of jungle every year.
Is your cocaine ethically sourced?? Gluten free??? Whole grain???
— Ally (@Ally_EC) June 24, 2019
