Snapchat's opioid SHAME: crime watchdog slams the 'platform of choice for fentanyl drug dealers'

A crime watchdog has urged the Justice Department to crack down on the social media platform Snapchat, branding it the ‘platform of choice for fentanyl drug dealers’ seeking young customers.The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) said it’s time to investigate the platform, where fake pills laced with the powerful synthetic opioid sell for $25 each and are driving a wave of overdose deaths.NCPC says Snapchat, which is popular among users aged 15-25, uses encrypted technology and its trademark disappearing messages, which both help drug dealers evade arrest and prosecution.’Drug dealers are using American innovation to sell lethal products,’ Paul DelPonte, NCPC’s executive director, wrote in a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says it is investigating fentanyl dealing on social media sites and warns that emoji code words are used for young buyers to avoid suspicion from their parentsAlex Neville of Orange County, California, died in June of 2020 at the age of 14 after taking a fake prescription pill he purchased from a dealer he encountered on the social-media app Snapchat’In about the same amount of time it takes to read this letter, someone will die from fentanyl poisoning because they purchased a
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