Standard hotel branded ‘insane’ for ‘promoting cocaine’ with new ‘bump’ cocktail that comes complete with rolled up bank note

A boutique hotel founded by famed hotelier Andre Balasz is cynically marketing a cocaine-style cocktail to its wealthy clientele in a state where the drug kills more than 2,400 people every year from overdoses alone.

The Standard Hotel Miami Beach launched its Belle Isle Bump tonight with an Instagram post, complete with a rolled-up “banknote” and stylized packaging of “glitter” crystals.

Rooms at the city’s only adults-only hotel cost up to $826 a night and it promotes itself as “less of a hotel and more of an adults-only spa with rooms.”

Some of Instagram’s 184,000 followers branded the post ‘insane’, while others described it as ‘corny as hell’.

“This is borderline cringe,” one wrote, “actually it’s just cringe.”

The hotel is part of the chain founded in 1998 by the Massachusetts business magnate, which includes actress Uma Thurman, comedian Chelsey Handler and Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue.

But it has been run since 2019 by chairman Amar Lalvani, who has aggressively expanded the brand with plans for outlets in Thailand, Portugal, Ireland and Belgium.

The hotel describes the drink as “blended with nocheluna sotol, blackberry liqueur, rosemary and lemon…plus a little edible glitter.”

The $24 drink is on the menu alongside $140 glasses of tequila and $800 glasses of champagne at the venue’s Monterrey Bar, which opened in 2021 after the hotel closed during the pandemic.

“Delightful light signs are designed to pair with the curated drinks menu and reflect the cool, dark speakeasy style of Monterrey Bar,” it explains.

An Instagram video of the drink shows a bartender preparing it with the caption “Need a pick-me-up?”

According to the CDC, the US recorded more than 110,000 drug overdose deaths in 2022, following a 45 percent increase between 2019 and 2021.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vowed during his presidential campaign to use lethal force against drug cartel members smuggling drugs across the southern border.

And Mexican drug gangs now operate as far north as Montana, which is now the second most “addicted” state in the union, according to a report last week.

Drug overdoses are the third leading cause of death among children behind gun violence and car accidents with fentanyl alone wiping out the equivalent of a high school class every week.

Meanwhile, cities across the US have been hollowed out by residents and businesses fleeing open-air drug markets.

Office vacancy rates hit a record high of 34 percent last year as shops were pushed out of the city center by increased crime and economists warn the city is entering an “urban doom loop.”

San Francisco’s massive Westfield mall is now 75 percent empty after more than 100 stores closed shop, reducing the center’s value by more than $1 billion since 2016.

The city recorded a 25 percent increase in overdose deaths last year to 813, the worst on record, and another 66 died in the first month of 2024.

Earlier this month, Democrat Mayor London Breed announced plans for “aggressive” public safety proposals that would require thousands of single adults on welfare to be screened for illegal drug addiction or lose their cash assistance.

It’s just the latest effort to tackle the wave of addiction that has caused crime to rise in the city of Golden Gate and the Tenderloin neighborhood to be dubbed the “Million Dollar Mile” by Honduran drug dealers.