Show Me the Ozarks August 2022

DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION

EMOJI DRUG CODE | DECODED

COMMON EMOJI CODES

Teens are Obtaining Drugs Via Social Media Sites with Secret Emoji Code and Trigger Words By Bridget Bauer P arents beware! Teenagers are using popular social media sites and text messaging to obtain drugs from drug dealers. To disguise what is actually happening, a secret code of emojis and secret terms are used to hide what is really going on in the communication. In June, the Today Show did a story on the way teens are obtaining drugs and often with deadly consequences as the drugs are laced with fentanyl. A story was told about 18-year-old Becca Schmill of Needham, Massachusetts, who died after an accidental overdose when her drugs were laced with fentanyl. She had the drugs delivered to her house after getting them off the internet by using shorthand on social media to obtain them. “It’s really sad that it is so easy to get the drugs to the kids,” Teddy Steen, executive director of ASCENT Recovery Residences, said. “A lot of them are drug users but not addicts so they don’t understand how dangerous it is. If anyone figures out what is going on, the site needs to be reported and shut down.” Last year, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration released a chart that shows what the emoji is and what it means in relation to obtaining drugs. Titled the Emoji Drug Code, it shows parents how emojis are repurposed in the drug-dealing world. From the Today Show story on its website, www.today. com/parents/parents/teens-emojis-online-lingo-drug deals-rcna33350: For example, a pill emoji symbolizes drugs like Percocet, Adderall, or Oxycodone while heroin is depicted with a snake or a brown heart and cocaine is a snowflake. The emblem for marijuana is palm or pine tree. Dealers indicate large batches of drugs with a cookie symbol while high potency substances are represented with bomb or rocket emojis.

FAKE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

ADDERALL

PERCOCET &OXYCODONE

XANAX

A -

DEALER SIGNALS

DEALER ADVERTISING

UNIVERSAL FOR DRUGS LARGE BATCH

HIGH POTENCY

OTHER DRUGS

METH

COCAINE

HEROIN

MARIJUANA

MDMA &MOLLIES

COUGH SYRUP

MUSHROOMS

This reference guide is intended to give parents, caregivers, educators, and other influencers a better sense of how emojis are being used in conjunction with illegal drugs. Fake prescription pills, commonly laced with deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine, are often sold on social media and e-commerce platforms – making them available to anyone with a smartphone.

#ONEPILLCANKILL dea.gov/onepill

Disclaimer: These emojis reflect common examples found in DEA investigations. This list is not all - inclusive, and the images above are a representative sample.

Becca’s parents shared with TODAY a screenshot illustrating lingo used by their daughter on Snapchat, months before her death: “I’m tweakin’. Need some stronger mgs.” The responding offer: “Oxy 15s.” Eric Feinberg, vice president of content moderation at the non-profit Coalition for a Safer Web, shared more common verbiage used in drug deals. “The word plug means hook me up with drugs,” Feinberg told TODAY Parents. “Misspelled words like pilz (pills), xanaz (Xanax), cush (marijuana) facilitate open discussion without triggering social media safeguards.” “A lot of people wouldn’t know half of this,” Steen said. “We’ve got to reduce the demand. Suppliers will figure it out if the demand is there. Where there is a will, there is a way.” Another deceptive thing about the social media websites is advertisers run ads on the sites not realizing what the site is exactly doing. Five years ago, Feinberg set up a fake account on Instagram and followed and exchanged messages with suspected drug dealers. Ads for exercise equipment, children’s entertainment and fast food showed up on the site. With no filter, advertisers risk running ads on drug-related sites. As Becca’s mother said in the article, no one wants to take the blame for what is happening. “Something has got to be done, and no one wants to take responsibility,” Steen said. “We have become so immune to opioid deaths that now you can get stuff over the internet. It’s wrong and needs to be regulated.”

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