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Social Media Accounts Openly Advertise Drugs For Delivery


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There's concern buying drugs on social media is now as easy as ordering a takeaway.

An investigation has revealed dozens of accounts, some with thousands of followers, selling drugs on Instagram and Snapchat.

The companies say buying or selling illegal substances is against guidelines - and are blocking terms or emojis used to advertise them.

From just ten minutes of searching for drugs, our investigation found nearly 50 accounts selling the goods.

Some of these accounts had thousands of followers.

While some post a list, not unlike a menu, of the product available today others work by Direct Message only.

One dealer even asked for an address to deliver to drugs to the door.

Social Media Makes Access To Drugs Very Easy

Brendan Cummins from Familibase youth project in Ballyfermot in Dublin says the days of buying drugs on the street corner "is long gone".

"You can nearly Facebook search for a certain type of drug and it will come up on your feed."

"It's nearly like the shopping channel that when you repeat things and you repeat things it kind of gets ingrained."

Brendan says the casual sale of the drugs is harmful.

"It makes it look like everyone's doing, it's popular, its trendy and young people are more likely to try it".

Instagram says buying or selling drugs is strictly against its content and advertising policies.

It even has technology that can spot indications of drug selling - such as slang and certain emojis.


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