Drug dealers exposing young people to ketamine on social media, says Burnley addiction recovery group

Ketamine Education Services helps prevent young people from trying the substance and supports those in recovery. Founder Finley Worthington, a recovering addict, is warning parents how he would purchase ketamine on Snapchat and see dealers advertising drugs on Facebook. Finley believes social media companies need to monitor how dealers use keywords and emojis to advertise drugs. He also thinks they need to curb the monetisation of their posts. "It's common knowledge that anyone on social media can get hold of anything, especially in little towns. People share stuff. It's a dangerous thing. People know it's a big issue and is messing people up. You can get ketamine within an hour anywhere in the country on Snapchat. When I was using it, the lads I was buying it from were putting it on their Facebook stories. They'd put pictures up of weed, cocaine, and ketamine. "I think the issue is not so much about people searching for stuff but inboxing and messaging each other. I can message 100 people now who sell a drug. I could have a conversation about it."

But, he believes that clamping down on online dealers is only part of the solution. "The way I see it, even if you crack down on and arrest dealers operating on social media, for each one that gets sent down, there are another three that start. "It'd be great if we could say, 'Let's curb social media' and get kids off it, but I don't think it's feasible. I do think it needs to be stricter but I think the best way to [tackle ketamine addiction in young people] is to raise awareness of what will happen if you do take drugs. I think hitting prevention hard, pumping time, money, and energy into it, is the best way to go about it." Finley visits secondary schools to raise awareness of the dangers of ketamine but wants to target children as young as Years 5 and 6. "We need to put fear into them about what will happen if you take this drug, 'This is what's going to happen to them, this mother lost her daughter'. It's real, raw, and honest but will stick with them."