🚀💣💥Decoding emojis dealers are using to sell drugs to young people

JACKSONVILLE, Fla – In 2021, the Drug Enforcement Administration began the “One Pill Can Kill” campaign to place a spotlight on the growing problem of deadly counterfeit pills being sold on the streets and introduced to young people on social media.

Since that campaign began, federal agents who gather intel on drug distribution have been working behind the scenes to decode emojis found in both social media and text communications between drug dealers and children.

“Certain emojis that we have uncovered in our investigations show that drug traffickers and our youth are using emojis to communicate regarding drugs, buying drugs and trying to obtain drugs,” said Deanne L. Reuter, special agent in charge of the DEA Miami division, which oversees all DEA operations in Florida.

For example: 💊A-🚆 is code for Adderall. 💊🍫🚌 is code for Xanax.

Agents also learned certain emojis described drug quantity and potency in addition to what drugs are for sale or what drug someone is requesting to purchase from a dealer.

For example: 🍪 is code for batch of drugs. 🚀💣💥 is code for drug potency. 🤑👑💰💵🔌 means the drug dealer is advertising.

The use of social media and cellphone texting is nothing new when it comes to drug dealers communicating with children to advertise, offer and even sell illegal narcotics. But the use of emojis to sell narcotics is considered a fairly new practice.

“Some of the common emojis that you see in our investigations, it makes sense that some of these emojis are related to drug trafficking,” Reuter said.

For several months now, the DEA has warned parents across the U.S. to keep a watchful eye on their children’s social media activities as well as who they are communicating with via text. That’s because investigations into drug overdoses involving children have revealed that street-level drug dealers, as well as drug cartels operating outside the U.S., are targeting young people as new customers.

“Social media investigations and cyber investigations are growing every day because the criminal networks are increasingly using this type of technology to move their drugs to our communities,” Reuter said.

While the DEA continues to stop the flow of large amounts of meth, cocaine and heroin being smuggled into the U.S., the administration is also fighting to stop the flow of counterfeit pills into the country that are being advertised on social media. Federal agents say adult drug dealers, as well as young people who work for the dealers and even sell drugs themselves, have been known to sell fake Adderall and Xanax to children they met online.

“Just because you get it from a friend or a friend online does not make that pill legitimate. Forty-two percent of the counterfeit pills that have been seized this year contain a deadly dose of fentanyl,” Reuter said.

Anne Milgram is the DEA administrator who oversees all DEA operations worldwide. During a news conference, she addressed the issue of fake pills containing fentanyl.

“We know that these overdose deaths are directly caused by Mexican drug cartels that are flooding the Unites States with deadly fentanyl, with millions of fake pills, with ton quantities, with fentanyl,” Milgram said. “This is an existential threat to our communities, bringing harm and violence and chattering families.”

During that same briefing, Administrator Milgram brought up a sobering reality about overdose deaths that have been linked to social media.

“The amount of fentanyl the DEA and our law enforcement partners seized this year is enough to kill every single American,” Milgram said. “What’s equally troubling is the cartels have harnessed the perfect delivery drug tool: social media.”

According to the DEA, an estimated 85% of the U.S. population has a cellphone with access to multiple social media platforms, which drug dealers and drug cartel operatives are banking on.

“When you open Snapchat, when you open Facebook, when you open Instagram, when you open TikTok, when you open YouTube -- the drug traffickers and criminal networks are there waiting for you,” Milgram said.

She explained in detail why social media has become a popular tool for drug dealers.

“It’s widely accessible. It’s easy to use. Drug traffickers can hide their identities. They can lie about what they are selling, and most importantly, the sites permit the sale of these fake counterfeit pills every day to go unchecked,” Milgram said.

“Social media investigations and cyber investigations are growing every day because the criminal networks are increasingly using this type of technology to move their drugs to our communities,” Reuter said.

While those investigations continue, the DEA is once again asking parents to keep a watchful eye on their children’s social media activities and to look out for signs that may suggest their child is involved in illegal drugs.

The signs include:

• Changes in their child’s behavior such as no longer appearing to be outgoing but more closed off from everyone else
• Change in the friends their child may keep; friends who may come across as questionable
• Spending a great deal of time using emojis to communicate online or through text messages with people other than relatives

The DEA advises all parents to have a conversation with their children about the dangers of drugs. If a parent notices that their child communicates with someone online or through text messages using emojis, and the parent does not know the person their child is communicating with, the parent is strongly advised to have a serious conversation with their child.

If the parent learns the person on the other side of the cellphone or computer screen is a drug dealer, federal agents advise reporting the discovery to law enforcement so that police can open an investigation.

If a parent learns their child has a drug problem, the DEA advises the parent to seek professional help and counseling for their child.