Marie Rönnebeck: Drug Dealers are giving Discounts on Cocaine and Ketamine in Honor of the Queen

One dealer said they were reducing the price of their top of the range Bolivian flake to £96 ($111) a gram to match the age at which she died.

Drug dealers are marking Queen Elizabeth II’s death by messaging customers with their condolences alongside specially discounted products including cocaine, weed and ketamine.

In a screenshot attached to a viral tweet, one seller sent out a mail shot text 13 minutes after the Queen’s death at the age of 96 was announced on Thursday with a list of drugs and prices, including an ounce of weed for £150 ($174) and £30 ($45) grams of ketamine. Then they told their customers they were offering “a queen’s dead discount on everything ask me for details”.

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Another dealer put the word out an hour after the Queen’s death on WhatsApp. Below a gif of the Queen doing the royal wave, the dealer told their followers: “Are you upset or feeling down with the sad news about the Queen’s death? Then don’t hesitate to contact me, I’m around till 1AM.”

In a message passed onto VICE World News, they said they were reducing the price of a gram of expensive “Bolivian flake” to £96 “in tribute to the queen who was 96 years old at time of her passing”. One person who received the message yesterday told VICE World News: “It’s a pretty shit offer in all honesty. It’s normally £100.”

Drug sellers, like most other businesses, were keen to let their customers know they were saddened by the Queen’s death, but also that they were willing and able to wipe away the tears of grief and sell as much drugs as possible.

In a WhatsApp message verified by VICE World News, one drug selling outfit, which sells everything from LSD and Xanax to magic mushrooms and cocaine, told its customers they were “shocked and saddened” as the death of “the greatest monarch ever, the most loved, the most revered, the most respected Queen Elizabeth II”, before adding, “during this time of national mourning, we are still operating a full service”.

A customer of the dealer told VICE World News: “I’m particularly impressed that he went so far as to faux-commemorate the queen. I mean, ultimately I go back to him because of the quality of his product, but he has bought some loyalty from me with his creativity.”

One seller from Leeds in Yorkshire said they had “King Charlie ready for you all”.

It’s not the first time dealers have stepped up selling gack on the back of the Queen. In June one crew told its customers during the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations marking 70 years on the throne: “Next 4 days of party with queeny if you want to get higher than her highness, call me, jubilee deals.”

In New York, within hours of the news, weed sellers had started selling bags of cannabis featuring an image of Queen Elizabeth, according to one image posted on Twitter.

Dealers often use big events as a marketing opportunity. At last year’s Euro 2020 football tournament Euro dealers in the UK used the event to offer “crazy deals” to football fans as the England side progressed.

“Dealers regularly use global events to promote products and offer ‘deals’ straight to people’s phones,” said Paul North, director of drug policy think tank Volteface. “The death of the Queen is being used to create the feeling they are people running a legitimate business, it makes the whole process of buying drugs feel a bit more normal, because every social media feed or TV channel is mentioning the queen.”