DoorDash for Drugs
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Resource Recommendations to Help You Parent and Mentor Most Effectively
This Week's Recommendation:
"Snapchat has become an on-demand delivery app for teens to score illegal drugs. Some kids are dying after taking one pill."
Business Insider Article by Jeff Elder
Check It Out Here
Drugs Delivered to a Teen's Doorstep
Earlier this week, I read a Rolling Stone article from June 16th titled, "Inside Snapchat's Teen Opioid Crisis." It requires a subscription, but somehow I was temporarily able to read it for free. I've read more articles the past few days and listened to some podcasts as well. Since the Rolling Stone article is behind a paywall, I tried to find a free article that summarizes the problem well and makes adults aware of it. Check out the Business Insider article linked above.
I'd like to share some points that adults should be aware of...
ANY teenager who has Snapchat and/or Instagram has easy access to drugs. In a podcast I listened to, a mom whose teenager accidentally overdosed from fentanyl-laced drugs that were bought on Snapchat stated that she knew the warnings about the big dangers of bullying and sexual exploitation on social media - but not about drugs. Adults, especially parents and guardians, must be aware of this.
Teens don't have to go anywhere to get drugs - they can literally have drugs delivered to their doorstep, the park up the street, etc. by drug dealers they find - or who find them - on Snapchat. They have access 24/7.
Teens often try to buy a relatively harmless pill like a Xanax (for anxiety or panic attacks) or a Percocet (for pain), not knowing that drug dealers' pills are often made with fentanyl. Adults need to educate them about the risks of taking even one pill. A large percentage of teen overdoses are from drugs purchased through social media, especially Snapchat.
Snapchat is ideal for drug transactions because the messages disappear, and the maps make it easy to see the locations of both the buyer and the seller.
It's common for teens to add people on social media that they don't know in real life, which leads to many of the problems. If teens are on social media, they should only be connected to people they actually know.
Similar to sexual predators, drug dealers can groom teens; for example, if a teen expresses sadness on social media, a dealer can reach out, express sympathy, and then offer something that will "help" their sadness.
I personally know Christian school students who have bought drugs on Snapchat. It can be the ones you don't expect.
For a good, brief summary that also includes the emojis typically used for buying drugs, check out a Drug Enforcement Administration bulletin here.
If you want more information or want to read stories about the impact, it's as easy as googling something like "teens Snapchat drugs." You can find the Rolling Stone article here - if you're lucky, you might be able to read it for free. To watch or listen to a Scrolling 2 Death podcast episode that interviews the author of the Rolling Stone article, click here. It's also available on Youtube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Scrolling 2 Death also has some other podcasts dealing with this topic.
Is anyone having conversations with the teens in your life about these topics? It might save their life! Remember, you can start by asking about their friends: "Do you know anyone who has bought drugs through social media?" "For the people you know who use drugs, where do they get them from?" "Have any of your friends bought drugs through social media?" "Is it common for your friends to add people on social media that they don't know in real life?" Etc.
"It's Always That Kid"
Paul Solotaroff, the author of the Rolling Stone article, researched this issue for 9 months. In an interview on the Scrolling 2 Death podcast, he was asked, "What do you say to parents who think, 'That's not gonna happen to my kid, my kid doesn't see that kind of content, or my kid would not, just wouldn't buy a pill online'?"
Solotaroff replied, "So to those parents I'd say, 'Exactly your kid. That kid who you think is too busy, is too effective, too popular, too high achieving, especially. These aren't the kids at the edges, these aren't the kids who get lost, these aren't the kids who shamble along through their teens. These are the kids at the top of their classes, in the thick of the tribe, the kids who everyone says, 'No, it couldn't have been that kid.' It's always that kid."