One Night in Singapore: A Personal Encounter with Corporate Cocaine Culture
Work environments can fuel dangerous habits
“It’s time to party,” said a sharply dressed thirty-something male through a grin so wide it could’ve split his face in two.
I know because I was looking right at it.
It was a balmy October evening, and Singapore City’s financial district was abuzz with activity. In a dimly lit corner of an upscale bar, an overt group of young professionals huddled together, their laughter drowning out the clinking of glasses and hum of the crowd. I was one of them.
Beneath the veneer of festivity and friendliness lay a secret — a potent secret that threatened to consume us all: a small bag of white powder, its contents as alluring as they were destructive.
The veil of silence
For decades, the use of cocaine in white-collar professions has been a subject shrouded in mystery, spoken of in hushed tones behind closed doors. It’s as though snorting it — or ‘hitting the slopes’ — in a jacket and tie could remove the dirtiness from it, disassociating it from an addict doing a bump on a darkened street corner.
But cocaine doesn’t care for dress codes.
