i news (UK) write
Class A drugs are openly being sold on TikTok, potentially reaching the hands of the platform’s younger audience, i has found.
A simple search of the platform revealed 15 accounts on TikTok – the majority claiming to be based in the UK – selling liquid LSD, lean, DMT, magic mushrooms, cannabis, cannabis edibles, Xanax, prescription anti-depressants and LSD tabs.
TikTok has banned some drug hashtags, including “cocaine” and “mdma”, but some promoting ketamine, LSD and magic mushrooms are not blocked on the app. Some accounts were found to use words like “pillz” or “edibles” in their username. Others used more vague language such as “oregano baked goods” while advertising cannabis edibles.
Prices were not listed and users were encouraged to direct message to find them out. In some instances customers were directed to a separate page on Telegram, Instagram or Snapchat to order.
This is not the first time drugs have been easily found and bought over Instagram and Snapchat. A 2019 report from Volteface, an advocacy organisation that seeks to reduce the harm drugs pose to individuals and society, polled more than 2,000 16-24 year-olds and found one in four reported seeing drugs advertised to them on social media.
Of those polled, 22 per cent knew friends who had bought drugs on social media, and 56 per cent had seen drugs on Snapchat, 55 per cent on Instagram and 47 per cent on Facebook.
Read More at https://inews.co.uk/news/tiktok-class-a-drugs-sold-mdma-lsd-magic-mushrooms-dealers-1307453
