Until a wave of social media hit us in the mid-noughties, drug deals were often carried out using burner phones or on the dark net.
But this could soon become a thing of the past, as it seems a lot of Tinder users are now swiping right not just to hook up, but to get their hands on illegal drugs.
Using pretty blatant hashtags such as #weed4sale and #mdma, users only have to swipe right to get their hands on chemical goodies.
And it’s not just Tinder that dealers are using. Apps like Depop, Kik and Instagram are also a hotbed of narcotic activity and it’s on the rise.
According to The Guardian report, the system is proving extremely popular with teens and 20-somethings who are now resorting to ordering their drugs on apps.
It’s no real surprise that drug dealers are now resorting to using these apps as a gateway, as it has proven to be difficult for social media bosses to track these deals.
Take Facebook, they’ve only just started to remove groups who were selling all types of heavy weaponry.
An Instagram spokesperson has since come out to claim they do not tolerate this sort of behaviour (obviously) and said:
Promoting the sale of, or selling marijuana and other drugs is against our community guideline. We encourage anyone who comes across violating content to report it via our built-in reporting tools.
Among the most common drugs available on social media are weed, MDMA and mephedrone, but to cover their asses, dealers are marketing the drugs as ‘research’.
The internet has acted as an absolute game-changer for dealers worldwide, and while there’s more availability, there obviously comes more threat- as buying any pills and powders from complete strangers have can have its own serious dangers.
Users might not just get scammed, but risk ingesting incredibly harmful compounds and law enforcement is coming increasingly concerned about the rise in online deals.
It’s becoming more and more clear that the ‘war on drugs’ is not just ineffective, but it’s not even fit for purpose anymore in this technological age.
A prime example of this is the legal high ban in the UK. The legislation has been delayed due to the governments own incompetence in part and the fact it’s almost impossible to enforce and regulate.
You’ve got to wonder, if we are that concerned about where our young people are purchasing their drugs, maybe it’s time we quit waging war on them and do something to make this whole process a whole lot safer for those who use them.
