ST. LOUIS – A new school year brings new concerns for law enforcement in the war on drugs.
“What we are seeing is children are more and more active online and drug traffickers and drug dealers are aware of this and increasingly moved to the online world to attempt to sell their narcotics to children,” Mike Prado, deputy assistant director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Crimes Center, said.
Prado says children returning to class can trigger peer pressure, stress, and anxiety. Some students may turn to drugs to cope and turn to the internet to score their drugs.
“The ease of access is, quite frankly, frightening. Think of it as an Amazon or any other online marketplace, but for illicit narcotics,” he said. “It literally is that simple. Children are tremendously savvy in the online world. They’re digital natives, and so they, much more than their parents, are aware on how to get to certain areas of the internet.”
Prado says drug dealers are buying products on the dark web and distributing them on the street. Kids are finding those drug dealers online and meeting them in person. In some cases, kids are buying the drugs straight from the web and having them shipped to their homes through the mail.
“…If a person is ordering it direct, they can get it through the U.S. Mail or another shipping service, and that’s where our vulnerability exists from the law enforcement standpoint for us to attack the problem,” Prado said. “And we are extremely vigilant in working with our state and local partners and other federal partners to address that vulnerability in the supply chain.”
Prado says parents must take a proactive role in monitoring their children at home and online.
“Talk to your children about the threats that exist online. Ideally, keep a computer in a common area. Be cognizant of any suspicious packages that are coming into the home,” he said. “It’s important that the parents monitor the settings on those phones and are aware of possibly what their children are doing online.”
Simple advice to help solve a complicated crisis.
