Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast has a new, fascinating and shady piece called “‘Saltburn’ for Real: Meet the Young, Rich ‘Narco-toffs’ Who Party Hard.” It’s all about the rich, titled British people who do cocaine, molly and various hallucinogens at extravagant parties at their country homes. Sykes is desperately trying to drag Prince Harry into the conversation, because Harry wrote about his drug use in Spare and Harry has talked about how using certain hallucinogens might have a mental health benefit. That’s a far cry from the “narco-toffs” who spend their weekends getting blitzed at sex parties. Speaking of, Sykes is also bringing in Rebel Wilson’s recent blind item about a minor royal who invited her to a drug-fueled sex party a decade ago. Some highlights:
The narco-toffs: The extraordinary claim by Rebel Wilson that she was invited to a drug-fueled orgy by a minor royal at an LA party was greeted with wry amusement by friends of some hard-partying members of the aristocracy and minor royals this week. Dubbed the “narco-toffs” by their peers, there has always been a section of the upper class that has incorporated copious drug taking alongside the more traditional society pursuits of hunting, shooting and fishing.
Rebel’s story was probably true: So, while Wilson’s remarks in her new memoir Rebel Rising, that she was invited to a lavish party which turned into a molly-fueled orgy by a man who was “tenth or fifteenth” in line to the throne has been called into question by some, to London’s upper class party set it rings very true. One source in the posh British party scene told The Daily Beast: “Drugs and sex? It’s what the lotus-eaters do.” One London drug dealer, who sells products regularly to London’s upper class party set, said it came as no surprise to him that a minor royal should be accused of attending a drug-fueled orgy. “Lots of my customers are ex-boarding school students with cold parents who don’t even know they are traumatized by it. I’ve known them for years, I went to university with them, I’m an equal, I just happen to be bringing the gear. These people don’t want to use anonymous drop-off services.”
The toffs aren’t doing cocaine these days: The dealer said cocaine “is very passé now,” with parties more likely to be fueled by magic mushroom infused alcohol “drops” that cost as little as £60 ($75) for about 40 drops. “Someone puts two drops on your hand and you lick it off. No need to go buggering about in the toilets, and you don’t get the jitters that you do from cocaine.”
A divided narco scene: Another regular party-goer said that the narco-toff scene has now divided into two, with one side still knocking back cocaine and molly at rave-style private parties and the other more boho camp taking a hippy wellness approach to their drug taking. “They are into microdosing, ayahuasca, magic mushrooms and (the psychedelic) DMT,” the source said. “It’s much more about spiritual highs. I heard of one crew recently that flew a shaman in from Peru for an ayahuasca weekend at a stately home. That’s been going on in Ibiza for ages, but it’s a new thing here.”
Harry & ayahuasca: The patron saint of this Gaia gang, of course, is Prince Harry, who revealed in his memoir, Spare that he had used ayahuasca, at first recreationally but subsequently as a therapeutic tool. “It is genuinely different to be going on an ayahuasca weekend than to just be staying up all night getting f–ked on chemicals which is actually a pretty grim thing to do when you have kids, and responsibilities,” the source said. “Also, if you are mid-rewilding the estate, it doesn’t really do to be supporting crime gangs and ecological destruction in the Amazon to get your nosebag.”
One of the anonymous titled “chinless wonders” says: “Mushrooms are ubiquitous, gak (coke, for your less-initiated readers) are passé. Mushrooms are more socially acceptable: not only are they synonymous with woodlands and festivals and outdoor space, but the psilocybin component links neatly to the tech/VC scene which chins get excited by. Also, everyone has the same dealer who is reputedly turning over £500k a month. He brands his mushrooms in lovely chocolate bars designed to look like Green and Blacks, and can be found dressed like a kind of pirate-wizard at most festivals but especially Noisily and Heartwood. A pinger (an E) at a wedding is also very common. Its users (of which I am not one, I just enjoy observing others’ behavior) really kicks the traditional wedding band and bog-standard marquee-in-field in the nuts.”
These days, people aren’t doing molly at rented houses: “Maybe in 2014 that was a thing, but none of the poshos are doing drugs in public these days because they don’t want to lose their jobs at JP Morgan,” the source said. “Also, she said it was at a rented house, which sounds a bit tacky. Far better if you have your own f-ck-off stately to host the party in, and then you don’t have randos like her selling you out.”
There are several mentions of Prince Harry, especially because he’s the rare prince who has been open and honest about his drug usage. I also think Harry’s interest is more in therapeutic usage at this point. But the other stuff… the sex parties and weekend drugs and partying at grand estates? It would not surprise me at all if several royals were involved in that scene. It would even explain certain stories and the haggard appearance of a certain prince.
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