Kieran McCartney: Cocaine Culture, ADHD and Recovery - Grief, Addiction and The ApprenticeKieran McCartney: Cocaine Culture, ADHD and Recovery - Grief, Addiction and The Apprentice
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Kieran McCartney shares candid experiences of cocaine and alcohol use, grief and ADHD, and how therapy, limits and family support helped him change. The conversation looks at normal cocaine culture in the UK and what happens when numbing pain stops working.
23:11•16 Apr 2026
Cocaine, Grief and the Three‑Pint Rule with Kieran McCartney
Episode Overview
- Cocaine and alcohol often go hand in hand, with alcohol lowering inhibitions and coke used to counteract its depressant effects.
- Grief after the death of Kieran’s dad significantly intensified his drinking and cocaine use as a form of escape.
- An ADHD diagnosis helped explain why cocaine felt regulating rather than purely stimulating, which fed into repeated use.
- Setting a clear three‑pint limit became a practical strategy to avoid contacting dealers and slipping back into heavy use.
- Talking honestly in one‑to‑one therapy about grief and underlying issues, rather than just the drug use, has been central to his recovery.
“I was doing it to escape and be someone else.”
He describes cocaine and alcohol as a package deal for him – “the alcohol is the depressant and then the coke brings you back up” – and how a three‑pint rule became his guardrail because “it was always after the third pint, I'd then call it on.” He also shares how a recent ADHD diagnosis changed his understanding of why coke felt so appealing, explaining that it seemed to “kind of calm me down and kept me mid-range rather than” giving a big high.
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This conversation with The Apprentice contestant Kieran McCartney offers a blunt, funny, and painfully honest look at cocaine culture, grief, ADHD and what recovery can actually look like day-to-day. Kieran, known on TV for his "win or walk" deal with Lord Sugar, talks about what sat behind that all-or-nothing persona: the loss of his dad, daily drinking, and regular cocaine use.
At the same time, he’s clear that grief was a huge driver: “I was doing it to escape and be someone else.” The chat digs into how normal cocaine use has become in pubs and business circles, what it actually looks like from the outside (“they fucking do. It is so obvious”), and why stigma around smoking or drinking feels so different to stigma around cocaine.
Crucially, Kieran talks through the moment he realised he wasn’t having fun anymore, the phone call to his mum asking for help, and how weekly therapy and honest conversations have helped him face grief instead of numbing it. He urges anyone worried about their own use to look beneath the surface: “It’s not just ‘I like coke’.
There’s normally something else to it.” If you recognise yourself in the three‑pint limit, the ‘win or walk’ mindset, or the need to be “someone else” for a night, what small step could you take today to ask for help?
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