Fentanyl Social Media
Losing Youth to Fentanyl through Social Media
In 2024, the landscape of teenage experimentation with drugs has shifted dramatically, with platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, and various other social media apps becoming hotspots for the acquisition of pills such as Percocet and Xanax. However, this trend comes at a grave cost, as the majority of these pills are now tainted with lethal doses of fentanyl. While overall experimental drug use among teenagers in the United States has seen a decline since 2010, the fatalities resulting from fentanyl have experienced a staggering increase – rising from 253 deaths in 2019 to a tragic 884 in 2021.
The proliferation of these dangerous pills can be traced back to Mexican cartels, which are producing them with chemicals sourced from China and India. Fentanyl, being both faster and cheaper to produce than heroin and 50 times more potent, has become an alluring and highly addictive filler. Shockingly, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration seized 20.4 million counterfeit pills just last year, and experts believe this only represents a fraction of the total production. Disturbingly, approximately 4 out of every 10 pills now contain lethal doses of fentanyl.
The issue extends across all major social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, TikTok, and even emerging platforms like Discord and Telegram. As long as teenagers remain active on these platforms, they are at risk of encountering drug sellers. It is imperative that we prioritize education to empower our youth with the knowledge needed to avoid falling victim to this crisis. Let's collectively work towards ensuring that our youth are well-informed and equipped to navigate the dangers posed by these substances, thereby reducing the alarming surge in youth drug deaths.
