Craigslist has become a hotspot for Southern California residents to acquire dangerous drugs such as fentanyl, with dealers selling the drugs under inconspicuous code names to avoid detection.
The classified ads platform has listings for items like Boba Fett action figures, blue socks and “fine china” across the Los Angeles area. “Those in the know know,” drug experts say.
Chelsea Shober, a substance use researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Said of Los Angeles Times If a person browsing Craigslist is “unaware,” these code names “may not arouse suspicion.”
“People have been able to buy drugs on Craigslist for a long time,” Shover said, “but these ads seem qualitatively different in how brazen many of them are.”
Before a reporter for the magazine contacted Craigslist in May, the platform continued to suggest drug-related terms to users who typed things into the search bar, such as “M30s,” a term for oxycodone tablets, and “fine china white,” a designer form of fentanyl.
Craigslist Times As for why drug-related terms are auto-populated in search suggestions, the outlet reported on Friday that “many of the slang terms for fentanyl no longer appear.”
Names like Star Wars The character Boba Fett, rapper Fetty Wap, and even the foods fettuccine and confetti-flavored frosting have been used to sell fentanyl on the site.
While these names may seem like obvious references to drugs, given their similar spelling, the ads for ceramic dishes, Chinese food, or “Made in China” products are a lesser known callback to “China White,” which was originally the street name for very pure heroin imported from China. explain.
A new form of fentanyl, alpha-methylfentanyl, was discovered in California in the 1980s. 1981 Study Published In analytical chemistry.
“It is believed that some dealers were mixing alpha-methylfentanyl into China White heroin at the time,” addiction journalist Chris Elkins wrote for Drugrehab.com.
Now circulating on the streets of California and many other states, “china” can refer to heroin or synthetic fentanyl.
Law enforcement officials said the convenience that online drug shopping brings to users and dealers makes it much easier to sell illegal drugs illegally.
Addicts don’t have to know a dealer or risk trying to get drugs on the street, they just need to know the slang and how to enter it into Craigslist.
“All of the barriers that kept a lot of people away from drugs have been removed,” said Bill Bodnar, a former special agent in charge of the DEA’s Los Angeles division. “If you live in Brentwood, you can get heroin delivered to your door in 20 minutes.”
of Times Users found selling prohibited items on the site could have their listings removed and be hit with hefty fines of up to $4 per post, although “it is unclear how fines will be collected or how often users will actually be required to pay them,” the report said.
The magazine spoke to a Craigslist drug dealer on the condition of anonymity, who confirmed that the dealers were selling drugs, not cupcakes or building materials.
One San Fernando Valley dealer who spoke to the Post offered “Funfetti Cupcakes with Funfetti Frosting” on the platform, advertising that they have “several varieties of delicious cupcakes ready to eat, and of course, our most popular flavor, Funfetti, is always available.”
Another dealer said he calls black tar heroin “roofing tar.”
“They’re trying to say they’re rich without being too forthright,” the dealer said.
Ads for Christina Aguilera tickets sometimes sell crystal meth, Shawver said.
The singer’s name has been used as slang for methamphetamine for decades, and in 2005 New York Post article Focus on it Used by Craigslist.
“The number of ads is pretty self-explanatory,” the UCLA researcher said. “Someone who actually sells blue ceramic plates wouldn’t have 30 ads. Another clue is the tickets to concerts that never actually happen.”
The ability to buy drugs quickly and easily on Craigslist has led to a surge in overdose deaths in California. Times report.
Tobin Oliver Wood, of Costa Mesa, was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison in 2022 for selling fake oxycodone pills called “Roxies” along with advertisements for “Roxy” board shorts that caused a 32-year-old San Clemente man to overdose on fentanyl in 2018.
Andrew Maddy of Hollywood was also sentenced to more than 10 years in prison in 2022 for selling fentanyl in “roofing tar” ads, causing fatal overdoses.
The fact that Americans, particularly Californians, are buying drugs using street jargon that blatantly refers to drugs imported from China proves the importance of Breitbart News senior contributor Peter Schweitzer’s book. Blood Money: Why the Powers That Be Turn a Blind Eye When China Kills Americans.
of The New York Times The bestselling author said California Governor Gavin Newsom (Democrat) Chinese ties to organized crime He has refused to question China’s role in the fentanyl crisis through his ties to Triad members, and President Joe Biden has refused to question China’s role in the fentanyl crisis, citing his family’s “financial entanglements.”
Peter Schweitzer, author of “Blood Money” (BNN)
“Specifically, it’s widely believed that a Chinese gang known as UBG founded the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and made them the fentanyl kingpins,” Schweitzer said. Said In an interview with Fox News in March.
“The leader of the gang is a man named Chang Anlo, commonly known as the White Wolf. White Wolf’s business is [a] “It was one of Hunter’s partners who sent the Biden family a $5 million interest-free, forgivable loan,” investigative reporter Maria Bartiromo told reporter. “And it was specifically designated for the family, not just Hunter. So does Joe Biden want to discuss these difficult issues? Does he want to hold China accountable? Absolutely not. I’m convinced it’s because of these financial entanglements.”
