The Digital Underground: Here’s How You Can Buy Drugs on Social Media, Right Now

The medicine and liquor cabinets at home are frequently the targets of teens who either abuse drugs or alcohol themselves or sell them to other students at school. Teenage drug dealers operate in shrouds of secrecy around campus, potentially making deals on a regular basis. The CDC reports that 21.8% of all high school students say that they have been sold, given or offered drugs on school adult children of alcoholics property. There are many ways teenagers can get their hands on drugs or alcohol without having to buy them from a store. The high prevalence of illicit substances in most communities gives teens easy access to drugs, both at school and in other places. Groups of teens can develop specific ways to find drugs and distribute them to each other without adults figuring out what’s going on.

The dark web aside, the internet is rife with fake pharmacies that sell drugs illegally. Many of these so-called pharmacies are not based in the United States, so they are not subject to American governance. Teens can go online and order any number of prescription medications and have them shipped in discreet packaging. Despite Silk Road’s shutdown, similar shady websites remain live and accessible to teens. Today’s teenagers have become increasingly tech-savvy, and many understand how to access the dark web and use it to purchase drugs online. If teenagers aren’t even allowed to buy alcohol or tobacco, where are they getting their drugs from?

  1. “A lot of people have used drugs that have flowed through cryptomarkets without knowing what cryptomarkets are,” he said.
  2. The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids recommends that parents keep all medications in a locked place and perform an annual spring cleaning of their medicine cabinet.
  3. Heath D’Alessio, a facilitator for Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy, suggested buyers attend meetings for their city’s psychedelic society, if it has one, or similar groups, to meet people who might have connections.

90 percent of American high school students say that some classmates drink, use drugs or smoke during the school day. Seaver and Ainsworth died within 48 hours of each other after ingesting the substance in September 2016. When Tara Fitzgerald, a 17-year-old junior from Woodbury, Minnesota, died of a drug overdose in 2014, her family was stunned. A talented musician and honors student, Fitzgerald was the last kid anyone would expect to be using drugs. So for now, the use of registries to cover meth crimes will be tested at the state level. What remains to be seen is whether these new laws stick, particularly those that include current residences of offenders.

When responding to opioid overdose calls, police investigators can deploy these tactics to locate drug dealers

If you know or suspect that your teenager is abusing drugs or alcohol, they need help before they suffer serious health and academic consequences. Contact The Recovery Village today to find out what we can do for you and your child. Your teen’s healthcare provider is a good place to start for help and resources.

Unfortunately, there are many different sources that a young person can obtain illicit substances. Knowing about these drug sources is important for parents and guardians who want to protect their children from illicit drug use and addiction. At the end of the day, teens can use numerous methods to get drugs through various avenues. Like adults, teens can also access prescriptions by visiting a physician or by rifling through the cabinets of a grandparent, friend or neighbor. According to the 2012 study, nearly 90 percent of American high school students say that some classmates drink, use drugs or smoke during the school day — and 44 percent know of a student who sells drugs at their school. Drugs are so accessible, in fact, that half of the teens surveyed said they believed they could get marijuana, prescription drugs or alcohol within a day if they wanted to.

What Happens if I Report a Drug Dealer?

He progressed to prescription painkillers, and then, when they became too expensive, to heroin. To get extremely potent opioids, users turn to the dark web—and sometimes, Google. Calls to numbers on a specific treatment center listing will be routed to that treatment center. Calls to any general helpline will be answered or returned by one of the treatment providers listed, each of which is a paid advertiser. Basing a suspicion on any of these characteristics is not only unreliable, but also discriminatory.

Right now, customers are buying product off Instagram, Grindr, Tinder, Whisper, Yik Yak, and more. These days, if a smartphone app is social and location-based, you can guarantee there’s a dealer near you. However, emojis aren’t the only code online drug dealers and buyers are using to make their transactions.

Buyers can either meet face-to-face or pay online and have their purchases posted to them. While online payments such as bitcoin and pre-paid gift cards such as Vanilla Visa are encrypted, more traceable measures such as unattributed bank transfers and PayPal are also used. Teens may also turn to the dark web to purchase illegal drugs or medications without a prescription. The dark web is an encrypted subsection of the internet that is inaccessible without special software or authorization. In 2013, there was a federal takedown of an online drug marketplace called the Silk Road, which had facilitated over a million transactions — totaling over $1 billion in sales — in just slightly more than two years.

“I just get to know people in the community and usually a connection will pop up,” she said. Even if a buyer is able to find better-quality drugs, of course, they could face legal repercussions if they’re caught buying or possessing them. “Depending on the drug and circumstance, legal consequences may be anywhere from a small, nominal fine to decades in prison,” said Glowiak.

Online Therapy Can Help

When asked what part of the internet they met this dealer on, respondents reported equal parts social media and darknet. Postal Service because it searches for suspicious packages by hand, while services like FedEx and DHL use more rigorous, automated methods. The report recommends that all international packages start to include what they call “advanced electronic data”—special information on bar codes that could help flag drug-bearing packages for postal workers. In the case of Garnett Smith, one of Baltimore’s biggest drug dealers, the DEA finally caught up with him through his Instagram photos of gold bricks, fast cars, and designer gear—for which he had no other source of income. His conspicuous wealth provided evidence of the size of his drug operation.

Last July, he said, there were thousands of listings for fentanyl and its analogues on AlphaBay, a darknet site that was shut down by law enforcement. One such individual was a 49-year-old Ohioan who sent roughly $2,500 to an online seller over the course of 10 months—from May 2016 to February 2017. Over that time period, he received 15 packages through the Postal Service on dates that closely corresponded to payments he made to an online seller. He died in early 2017 from “acute fentanyl intoxication.” He had received a package from an online seller just 30 days before his death. The subcommittee identified more than 500 sales, totaling $230,000, that involved the six online sellers. The greatest number of purchases came from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida.

Unfortunately, Surks’ parents didn’t realize that he even had a drug problem until he died in 2003 of an accidental overdose. But a posthumous search of his computer led them to several pharmacies he had visited online, including one based in Mexico. The internet is awash in websites offering potent pharmaceutical drugs without a prescription. Minnesota is slated to launch its registry long-term effects of microdosing psychedelics by the end of the year and Illinois is aiming for March 2007, though it is still working on the content. Montana includes meth offenders on its Internet registry of sexual and violent offenders. As in other states creating similar laws, it includes only people convicted of producing or trafficking in the highly addictive stimulant, not those convicted of simple possession.

Finding a drug dealer can be a daunting task, especially with the ever-changing landscape of the illegal drug trade. There are a number of routes one can take to locate illicit drug dealers. You can search through classifieds, seek out referrals, or even search online. However, it is important to remember that engaging in the illegal drug trade is risky and can have serious consequences. Do your research, stay aware of the laws, and be safe when making contact with drug dealers. With the right precautions, you can find a reliable source to purchase drugs.


Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *