( ABC News)ĭr John Ryan, who is the chief executive officer of the Victorian-based Penington Institute, said there had been a dramatic increase in drugs being sold and marketed on social apps. Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht was arrested in 2013. "There was a book club, there was a harm-reduction forum - it was more of a community vibe there."
" it wasn't just about drugs, it was actually about liberty in a number of different philosophical approaches that founder Ross Ulbricht, or Dread Pirate Roberts, had," she said. The "Uber Eats for drugs" is different from darknet drug marketplaces such as the now-defunct Silk Road, according to social scientist Dr Monica Barratt at the Drug Policy Modelling Program, which is part of Australia's National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales. The jump from the dark web to social media One parent who lost their child to an overdose said it was as easy as ordering pizza. Codes, certain fonts and emojis let customers know the account is used to sell drugs. The location tool on Snapchat is used to send nearby potential customers menus that disappear. The marketing by dealers on social platforms doesn't stop at videos. "Dealers will have these videos showing the drugs. They've got them opening packages or showing different aspects of what the drugs look like." I get to actually get the drugs quicker because it's an in-person exchange.' "When we've talked to people about, 'Why would you use the apps rather than the darknet?' They'll say, 'Well, it's faster. She said drug trends in New Zealand were very similar to Australia. Monica Barratt from RMIT University is an expert on drugs in digital society and worked on the study. Marijuana is the most popular drug, followed by MDMA.Īmy Neville is calling for advisory boards for big tech companies, including parents of children who have died, to oversee efforts to tackle drug sales on platforms.
More than half of those people used Facebook, 48 per cent Snapchat, and 20 per cent used Instagram. In Australia, research by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre showed 70 per cent of young people surveyed used social media to buy drugs.Ī recent New Zealand study asked more than 23,000 where they bought drugs. But dealers are moving away from the dark web and anonymous cryptocurrencies and onto social media apps.
Like many industries, drug dealing has evolved with technology. Ms Neville has met with Snapchat executives and is demanding the company do more to curb drug sales on the platform Ms Neville counts 427 overdose deaths in Orange County alone. ( Supplied: Amy Neville)Ī growing number of parents in the United States have lost children to an overdose after ordering drugs on Snapchat. Social media platforms like Snapchat made buying drugs more accessible to Alexander, according to his mother Amy. "But the ease and the access, and the fact it looks so normal and these drug dealers are promoting that they have legitimate prescription pills, it makes it way too easy." If it was back-alley scariness, he wouldn't have tried it," she said. Ms Neville explained her son had been open with her about experimenting with drugs, and that he used Snapchat to buy pills - an app in which pictures and messages self-destruct after they are sent.
His mother said his time of death was 9:50am and the rehab centre had called to confirm his place at the facility just four minutes later. "Alexander took one pill that killed and that pill had enough fentanyl in it to kill him and four other people," she told the ABC's PM program.įentanyl is a synthetic opioid that's been making its way into party and prescription drugs and is a hundred times more potent than morphine.Īlexander, 14, died in his bedroom. His mother Amy Neville said the pill he received turned out to be fake and was laced with fentanyl.
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