The Year Cocaine Washed Up in France | StabMic Ep. 28 | Paul Evans

The Year Cocaine Washed Up in France | StabMic Ep. 28 | Paul Evans

From Stab Podcasts by STAB

August 24, 2026 · 55 min

About this episode

Paul Evans discusses the phenomenon of cocaine washing up on the beaches of Southwest France in the early 2000s.

“Between Christmas 2003 and New Year 2024, packages of cocaine started washing up along the beaches of Southwest France. National television news reports carried the story of the coke de la plage — the beach cocaine, around a month after the first local rumours of finds emerged. One TV report on France 2, 30th Jan 2004, stated one-and-a-half tonnes had been recovered along French and Spanish coasts that month. If that’s just what the authorities had found, it’s safe to assume lots, lots more had been picked up by members of the public, mostly surfers.” - Paul Evans. Our guest this week is WSL commentator, Surf Europe editor, Stab contributor, and, as of a couple of weeks ago, the creator, producer and host of a long-form narrative podcast about cocaine. It was late 2003, and Paul had recently moved to southwest France from the UK, initially seduced by the prospect of good, uncrowded waves and rumours of mystics like Tom Curren and Robbie Page having made a life there. A few months later, bundles of pure Colombian cocaine started washing up on the beach. Paul first heard about it from a hitchhiker he picked up. The man had travelled several hundred kilometres from Toulouse and…

People in this episode

Host: STAB

Guest: Paul Evans

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: WSL, Surf Europe, Stab

Places: Southwest France, Toulouse

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