Are Your Children Buying Drugs Online?

Many 15-year-olds spend three hours a day on the internet – but do you really know what they're doing?

- Kristina Beanland

Sexting. Grooming. Bullying. we all know the dangers of social media, but now there’s a terrifying new trend…

BBC Three’s Stacey Dooley Investigates: Kids Selling Drugs Online charts the rise of those who use social media, such as Instagram and Snapchat, to advertise and arrange drug deals online. But it’s not just career criminals, with a string of offences to their name who arrange these illicit exchanges. No, it’s school children as young as 15 – and they’re selling to their peers.

Now, with millions of people worldwide logging in to social media, it’s never been easier for children to buy and sell class A substances. Gone are the days of dodgy deals in dark alleyways, now children can access drugs from their own bedrooms, with just one click of a button.

Here, we speak to Stacey Dooley about the making of her new documentary – and the dark world she uncovered…

‘NO ONE IS WILLING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY’

Stacey Dooley, 30, is a journalist and TV presenter, she’s been making documentaries for almost 10 years.

Dressed in his school uniform, hands in his pockets, 15-year-old Denver has just finished playing football in the park with his friends. Only,rather than going home to do his homework or eat dinner with his family, he’s waiting on a street corner for his next customer, a handful of pills in his pocket.