‘Just Knocking out Pills’: An Ethnography of British Drug Dealers in Ibiza

British seasonal workers in Ibiza are deeply integrated into the island’s drug market, engaging in prolonged illicit drug use and dealing due to precarious legal employment. This study reveals that the hedonistic nightlife environment normalizes these activities, obscuring associated risks. Using Bryman’s Disneyization framework, it highlights performative labor as a key driver of this integration. Ethnographic fieldwork over three summers—including participant observation, semi-structured interviews (n=56), and documentary photography—provided rich data to uncover the complex interplay between drug use, dealing, and social context.

Turner, T. (2019). ‘Just Knocking out Pills’: An Ethnography of British Drug Dealers in Ibiza. Journal of Extreme Anthropology, 3(1), 102–120. https://doi.org/10.5617/jea.6694