"I visited Benidorm and was offered cocaine 5 times in 3 minutes" | World

Ask any group of young girls or boys in Benidorm where Calle Gerona, Avenida de Mallorca or Calle Cuenca are and expect a blank stare in return. Ask these same groups for directions to Plaza de los Ingles and they will most likely tell you to follow them.

Calle Gerona, Avenida de Mallorca, Calle Cuenca and Plaza de los Ingleses are the same place; like all the bars and clubs in the area, even the street names have been anglicized.

For lovers of Benidorm’s nightlife, Plaza de los Ingles has everything you could dream of: bright lights, loud music, cheap drinks and… drugs?

It might be naive to expect the resort’s infamous nightclubs to be free of illegal substances.

However, the openness of the drug trade on English Square and the large number of dealers jostling for your spot are enough to keep you awake at night.

Calle Gerona, the main thoroughfare of Plaza del Inglés, is just under a kilometre and a half long. Yet, in a stretch of less than 85 metres, five dealers offered me cocaine in the space of three minutes.

Each dealer had his own pitch that amounted to the same thing: “I’ll sell you as many ‘Charlie’s’ as you can afford, I’ll even let you try it first.”

“I’ll give you 50 euros for a bag,” a salesman told me. “And if you want more, I have an offer: if you buy four bags, I’ll give you one for free, I’ll give you one more, I’ll give you five.”

Some dealers were selling marijuana, others were selling ecstasy pills, one even said he would sell me Viagra. But all of them were selling cocaine and promoting it in their opening offer.

The astonishing number of dealers was such that it was reasonable to assume that they were doing a brisk business.

Benidorm may be known for its wild nightlife, but its status as a cocaine hotspot is much less well established.

In 2019, a 38-year-old Sheffield man, Lee Okrasa, was found by a British pathologist to have died at the popular seaside resort from cocaine use.

Given the scale of the illegal drug trade that dominates English Square, it is surprising that there have not been more tragedies.