Drugs in Ibiza – a personal view

To start with let me say I’m neither condemning nor condoning the taking of drugs. I’d just like to offer my take on it as somebody who lives and works in Ibiza.

First let’s look at what attracts holidaymakers to Ibiza. For many, perhaps most, it is a familiar Mediterranean destination. They stay in villas, hotels and apartments in holiday resorts such as Cala Llonga, Es Canar and Santa Eulalia which cater mostly for British and German families. There’s little sign of drugs in these quiet resorts.

But, what makes Ibiza different from anywhere else in the world is the music scene. Clubs such as Pacha, Space, DC10, Es Paradis, Eden and Amnesia attract less child-oriented crowd. Mostly they’re young, under 30, many are gay, others are straight, but the common thread is we don’t have the responsibility of children.

Being over 50, the age thing is important to me. If I was in Britain I wouldn’t be going to clubs. Here in Ibiza dance music is open to anybody. Nobody bats an eyelid about me being on the dance floor, but that certainly was not the case in the UK on the couple of occasions I went clubbing.

So, I can’t really comment on the British club scene. I can only imagine that ecstasy plays an important part. Most types of music have their related drug, whether it’s LSD with prog rock, marijuana with reggae or speed with punk. Okay, not every member of the audience partakes, but a fair number do.

Certainly clubbers here pop a lot of pills, but maybe proportionately no more than do in British clubs, it’s just that on any night in the summer perhaps 15,000 people are in Ibiza’s discos and music bars. What I’m saying is that if you drug-tested that number of people in British, German or Italian clubs I don’t know if you’d find more had taken cocaine, ecstasy or ketamine or not.
To start with let me say I’m neither condemning nor condoning the taking of drugs. I’d just like to offer my take on it as somebody who lives and works in Ibiza.

First let’s look at what attracts holidaymakers to Ibiza. For many, perhaps most, it is a familiar Mediterranean destination. They stay in villas, hotels and apartments in holiday resorts such as Cala Llonga, Es Canar and Santa Eulalia which cater mostly for British and German families. There’s little sign of drugs in these quiet resorts.

But, what makes Ibiza different from anywhere else in the world is the music scene. Clubs such as Pacha, Space, DC10, Es Paradis, Eden and Amnesia attract less child-oriented crowd. Mostly they’re young, under 30, many are gay, others are straight, but the common thread is we don’t have the responsibility of children.

Being over 50, the age thing is important to me. If I was in Britain I wouldn’t be going to clubs. Here in Ibiza dance music is open to anybody. Nobody bats an eyelid about me being on the dance floor, but that certainly was not the case in the UK on the couple of occasions I went clubbing.

So, I can’t really comment on the British club scene. I can only imagine that ecstasy plays an important part. Most types of music have their related drug, whether it’s LSD with prog rock, marijuana with reggae or speed with punk. Okay, not every member of the audience partakes, but a fair number do.

Certainly clubbers here pop a lot of pills, but maybe proportionately no more than do in British clubs, it’s just that on any night in the summer perhaps 15,000 people are in Ibiza’s discos and music bars. What I’m saying is that if you drug-tested that number of people in British, German or Italian clubs I don’t know if you’d find more had taken cocaine, ecstasy or ketamine or not.

Either way, it does mean there’s an enormous recreational drug market in Ibiza. Rumour always has it that dealing has either kept a number of businesses going or financed them in the first place. It’s very hard to prove, anyway, because so much of the tourist business runs on cash and, certainly, not every cent is declared to the Spanish tax authorities.

Drugs are definitely easy to buy on Ibiza. Ask around the pre-clubbing bars and you’ll soon find somebody to sort you out. Again, that could well be the same in UK towns and cities, but, as I said earlier, age is more of a factor there. A 51-year-old such as me just wouldn’t knowingly come into contact with dealers.

The other big difference compared with the UK is that Ibiza is a holiday destination. The tourists enjoying themselves in villas, apartments and hotels are transient. In their home towns they’d probably get to know dealers over months of going to the same pubs and clubs. There simply isn’t time to develop those relationships on this Spanish island.

In short: A lot of drugs are consumed here and their sale plays an important place in the island’s economy. Is that a problem? If so, what should be done about it?

I’ll look at that next.