Looking to score tonight? Well, according to reports from Berlin – the home of Berghain, techno and three-day club nights – it may be more easy (and legal) than you think. Residents of the German capital have apparently chosen chocolate as their brand new drug of choice; snorting it at electronic nights across the city.
According to Ozy, taking raw cocoa offers a high that’s an alternative to cocaine, with many clubs now offering the substance in a powdered, liquid, or pill-form. All-night raves like ‘Lucid’ at Berlin’s Alchemy & Eros – which has been branded as a “monthly cacao-fuelled dance party” – claim that chocolate releases endorphins, and helps clubbers find “dynamic” and “natural high vibes”.
“We do not serve alcohol, but this does not make us 'anti' anything,” the club claims. “We have local artisans and culinary adventurers serving various high vibe medicines such as raw Cacao, super-food smoothies, herbal concoctions, vegan cuisine and much more.”
The craze has reportedly spread across the continent (and atlantic) too, with London and New York rave company ‘Morning Gloryville’ selling cacao drinks and cacao pills. Advocates claim that the raw, virgin form of the substance offers a new kind of high to clubbers, increasing feelings of euphoria and relaxing the muscles. It also, according to a recent study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, increases blood circulation and stimulates brain power.
For clubbers though, chocolate can apparently help to “amplify” their experience, rather than “dim” it, unlike other drugs. “It's like a smooth, sensual hug in a cup,” says Lucid organiser Ruby May.
What do you think? Too good to be true? Clean-living crap? Or a genuinely exciting new alternative to our (now illegal) legal highs? Only time – and a quick trip to Whole Foods – will tell.
