A guide released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reveals that people are buying and selling drugs on social media through emojis. The guide does not provide a thorough list of the emojis used, but it shows the efforts the agency is putting into monitoring discussions around the drug trade online.
The DEA launched this guide as part of a campaign known as “One Pill Can Kill.” The goal of the campaign is to prevent an increase in overdose deaths as well as create awareness about counterfeit prescription drugs to parents, educators, teachers, the press and community organizations. Last year, according to a report by ABC, the DEA confiscated more than 20 million fake pills. It is estimated that 40% of those had potentially lethal doses of fentanyl, the substance that is the cause for most overdose deaths.
Brian McNeal, the spokesman for the Detroit Field Division of the DEA, said that because of the design of counterfeit pills, neither the agency nor its agents can detect the drug’s harmfulness unless it is tested in a lab.
Emojis help in sending coded information between the buyer and the seller. Therefore, decoding emojis is a key part of the campaign because it helps the targeted parties be vigilant for signs of discussions on an illegal drug trade. According to McNeal, emojis also appear in short form videos on social media. The guide is designed to help parents and teachers gather insights that will assist them in mentoring the teens and young adults.
Some of the key takeaways from the findings include the fact that emojis are used to describe specific drugs from meth to marijuana as well as actions. For example, Percocet is represented by the P button emoji while cocaine can be referenced by the 8-ball emoji. The findings have also found that bombs and fire flame emojis are used to describe the drug’s potency level.
The discussions take place on a range of platforms. According to the DEA, Snapchat is the most used for such communication. Instagram comes in third place after Facebook Messenger.
The report, however, has missed out on highlighting the more common uses of emojis. For example, marijuana is represented by the Canadian maple leaf emoji or tree emoji and shrooms are represented by the mushroom emoji. In addition to these two, the gas container emoji, which indicates the potency level in marijuana, is missing as well as the eyeball emoji, which is used to show the trending product.
These efforts by the DEA are one way to ensure that any cannabis products made by licensed entities such as Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (CSE: RWB) (OTCQX: RWBYF) never end up in the hands of underage consumers.
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