YOUNG people are fatally overdosing after buying fentanyl-filled pharmaceuticals on social media apps such as Snapchat and Instagram.
Experts warn that your younger loved ones might be at risk as the US faces an explosion of accidental drug-related deaths, in large part due to social media.
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According to a Guardian analysis, fatalities from drug-related deaths soared during the pandemic to 93,000 deaths — a 32% increase from 2019.
The data highlighted that the under-24 age group was especially vulnerable, with that group’s fatalities increasing by 50% in a single year (for a total of 7,337 lives lost in 2020).
The report also found that in California, a young person under 24 is dying every 12 hours from a drug-related overdose, which is a 1,000% increase from 2018.
Experts say that a huge driving factor behind this increase in deaths is the large amount of fentanyl currently floating around the US.
The dangerous drug, which is a cheap imitation of heroin, though much more potent, is oftentimes falsely marketed as pharmaceutical pills such as Xanax and Percocet.
“These are not overdoses; these are poisonings,” said Shabbir Safdar, director of the Partnership for Safe Medicines.
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“Nobody dies from taking a Xanax; nobody dies from taking a single Percocet. These are fake pills. Every drug you try now is a game of Russian roulette,” he added.
Fentanyl is also a leading factor in street-drug-related fatalities as its being mixed into cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, and heroin.
Experts say that part of what’s helping young people access fentanyl-laced drugs are popular social media apps such as Instagram and Snapchat.
One woman, Amy Neville, lost her 14-year-old son after he purchased a pill from social media.
“Alex had taken one pill that he thought was Oxycontin – one pill. I had no idea that one pill would kill him,” Neville told The Guardian.
“He had ordered an illegally manufactured pill right off of social media as easily as ordering a pizza,” she added.
Unfortunately, Neville’s story is not unique, and the increase in the drug-related deaths of young people has led to a call for accountability from social media apps.
At a congressional hearing earlier this month, lawmakers questioned the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, about drugs being sold via the app.
“Why are children’s accounts even allowed to search for drug content to begin with, much less allowed to do so in a way that leads them to a drug dealer in two clicks?” asked senator Mike Lee (R-Utah).
“Accounts selling drugs or any other regulated goods are not allowed on the platform,” said Mosseri.
Similarly, Jennifer Park Stout, vice-president of global public policy at Snap, said in an October Senate hearing that Snapchat was “absolutely determined to remove all drug dealers” from its site.
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