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Melanie Cole (Host): As a parent, were you aware that some young people can use social media to buy and sell drugs? We're here to offer tips for parents on how to monitor their children's social media use. For possible illicit and dangerous activity. Welcome to It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. I'm Melanie.

Joining me today is Deputy Robert Jensen. He's a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Public Information Officer for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriffs Station. Deputy Jensen, thank you so much for being with us today. Before I ask you how kits are using social media to facilitate drug transactions.

I would like to ask you about what drugs we're going to be talking about here today.

Robert Jensen: Well, thank you again for having me back on the show. truly think this is such an important issue, so I'm grateful to talk, with you guys about it. drug transactions in social media or how kids are using social media to, make these drug transactions is a huge issue. And it's something we're seeing not only just in the valley, but specifically, in our schools.

And, you asked the question of what drugs, and I'm gonna just vaguely answer it and say all of them. Because it's a complete menu being provided to these kids, on social media. And it's, something where they're, teaching kids these plugs. They're teaching kids what emojis to use, to order things so that it's undetectable, quote unquote, by, parents.

So we can get into a little bit of that, but when you ask what kind of drugs, we're talking about weed, we're talking about Xanax, we're talking about Adderall. and unfortunately. The list continues beyond that, but we'll probably stick to those main three, as we get started.

Melanie Cole (Host): Well, I am glad you brought up Adderall 'cause that's a big one right now. so tell me how kids are using social media to facilitate these transactions. I would think, okay, back in my day, and I'm a lot older than most of your listeners, but we'd stand in front of a liquor store and ask someone to buy us alcohol.

Right. And with marijuana being legal. Many places. I would think, maybe I'm wrong, that it's similar, that kids can ask someone who's over 21 to just get it for them. Tell us what's going on with social media. How is this happening and how is someone not seeing it and saying, cause we can see a lot of this stuff.

Robert Jensen: I mean, you're completely correct. just because it's illegal doesn't mean that it's unreachable by kids. I mean, a lot of these. Kids have friends that are older, and above the legal age, so they can go get the marijuana, the Xanax, the Adderall, they can get the meth, the heroin, the cocaine, the mushrooms, the cough syrup up.

I mean, I could, I could keep going, right? So, it's definitely something that, we're trying to kind of help educate parents. one of the biggest things I can tell you is you're perfect children. Perfect. Yes, we agree. Your kid can do nothing wrong. but their fake Instagram account or their fake Snapchat account can be a wealth of information.

so one of the things I like to educate parents on first and foremost, before we even get into trying to identify like the signs and symptoms and, what conversations to be looking for. The biggest thing that I tell parents all the time is just be aware of the number of accounts that your child has, and where those accounts are.

So, if you don't know how to, look up your child's Instagram to see if there's more than one account associated with it, please YouTube that, or learn or ask somebody or ask a deputy to show you how to identify if there's more than one account. A lot of times what we'll see is. These, you know, the kids that are the valedictorian of their class or whatever, have their username that the parents are aware of or maybe even have the login information for.

and then they also have a fake Instagram or an additional Snapchat that has nothing to do with their name. but a lot of times you'll see, an area code or a zip code to start it off. So, my username is Deputy Jensen 1, 2, 3. But my, drug searching username will be like a 6 6 1 Jensen or, or whatever it is, right?

To try and, identify like where the local dealers and where the plugs are. that's something you're gonna see. So that would be my first pitch to parents is just be aware of the types of accounts that your students have. and then. Looking at their email inbox is a great way to identify that also, because you'll see, the social media account, confirmation emails and that kind of thing, go to that inbox.

now the other thing I wanna address is also just understanding the term marijuana being legal. it's not the case for anybody under legal age, right? So, please be aware of that. Parents even be aware of that. Just because you have a medical marijuana card or you're getting it legally, does not mean that your child should have the same access.

There, there are countless effects of, marijuana, even just on a, teenage brain, and I know Henry Mayo has done a number of seminars with the emergency department as well as the, some of the psych doctors that have talked about just how damaging even just marijuana can be on young developing brain.

Melanie Cole (Host): Well, we certainly have learned a lot on these shows about the teenage brain and how marijuana and alcohol and vaping really affect the development of the brain, and it can be devastating. I. It really is a problem. So now as a parent, what are we supposed to do? You said that Check their email, but our kids wanna start from this place of trust but we would like to monitor their social media and you know, back in the day, deputy, we used to say, okay, so should we friend our kids on Facebook?

But they are not on Facebook. It is only us on Facebook. They are not on Facebook. They are on Instagram and TikTok and Snapchat, which you cannot

Robert Jensen: Oh, and there's more. They're Melanie. There's so much more. There's discord, there's telegram. I mean, we could keep going.

Melanie Cole (Host): so what do we do with those ones that we're not on? We're not monitoring them on Facebook. They're not doing this kind of stuff. But what about on Snapchat where it disappears right away?

Robert Jensen: Well just be aware of what your kids are doing and I think that applies. There used to be this old PSA that would go out at, you know, 9:00 PM or whatever on tv. Those like, it's 9:00 PM Do you know where your kids are?

Melanie Cole (Host): 10:00 PM.

10:00 PM.

I'm 61, so I remember those. Yeah,

Robert Jensen: So you remember. You remember those? I wish we could have that same thing.

Come back into play today and just

say, you know. What are your kids doing on the phone? Why are they hiding things from you? Do you have an open relationship with them where you can look at their, phone at any time? and if that's the case, then even take it a step further. Yes, you wanna trust your kids, but you have to establish that trust.

It's not something that is given automatically. It needs to be earned. I educate parents on that all the time.

a lot of times too, what we're dealing with right now, and I'll speak very freely about this. Full disclosure to all your listeners, I have no kids, okay?

My experience is coming from going into homes all across LA County and having the same conversation with every single set of parents that are like, I had no idea. So again, I have no kids, but here's my, thing for all of you. Stop trying to be your kid's best friend. you are designed to be their parent.

You are designed to be their authority figure. You need to acknowledge that. and sometimes that comes with a little bit of a, tough love if you will. So if you start seeing things in their phone that are, messages are getting deleted right away, or, you know, like you said, Snapchat deletes the messages automatically.

Well, who are their friends? do their friends have normal names? Is it Rebecca from, you know, math class? Or is it like. Some weird word that's not really a person's name. Why is that their username? Just dig into it a little bit. Start asking questions. if there is a chat history that you can look at, are you seeing the little, electrical outlet plug emoji?

that probably means that it's a plug, literally a, a drug plug. are you seeing a lot of those smoke emojis? Are you seeing a lot of the weed emojis? A lot of times too, that'll be, you know, they'll talk about deliveries, they'll talk about packages. Hey, do you have my package? all the time we see things where these drug dealers are creating temporary accounts, temporary stories, and they're targeting these local, teens.

Like I said, the, the usernames gonna start with 6 6 1. 'cause that's our area code out here in Santa Clarita. So that's, if I'm looking for something in Santa Clarita, I'm gonna search 6, 6 1 and then I'm gonna look at a profile. And if I see that little plug. In the profile, then it's probably a, plug.

Now what I'm telling you is information that we're gathering as it's coming in, the info could already be changing. The kids could have already come up with something different. You know what I mean? So really, it's all about parents just kind of digging in, identifying who their kids are talking to and when they're talking to them.

There should be no reason, Melanie. To all parents. There should be no reason that your kid needs their phone in their bedroom late at night. Nothing good. Nothing good is gonna happen at that point. Have 'em charge it down in the kitchen, have 'em charge it in the bathroom, have 'em charge it anywhere but their bedroom with the door that locks.

Melanie Cole (Host): Giving you one of these deputy, because really that's what I did with my kids phones, had to be in the kitchen. They could be plugged in on the island, but that's where they had to be. And after a certain time and our screen time, you and I could talk about that a different time. But you know, that's changed because school is screen time now.

So that screen time from the American Academy of Pediatrics has changed. But now my big question. Deputy Jensen is we monitor, we look for the area code, we look for the plug, we look for words, keywords, package delivery things. And certainly Adderall, as you said, is a problem because kids get a, legal prescription for this because of a condition, and then they start passing 'em around.

The question now is what do we do if we see these things, if we do catch our children? Doing something like this, do we talk with them first? Do we call you? We don't wanna get our kids arrested, but we also don't want them to get in bigger trouble. What, what do we do?

Robert Jensen: I would kind of throw it back at you and say, what would you do if you're, teaching your kid how to drive? cause that's gonna be your role forever, right? You're in the passenger seat of their life. They're calling you, trying to figure out what to do.

What would you do if your kid was driving? And he was learning how to drive and he had his phone out and he was texting while he was driving and the radio was blasting and he's eating a cheeseburger, You're in the passenger seat just kind of watching all this. What would you do? Truly?

Melanie Cole (Host): I would sit my kid down as I did one time when I found something I didn't like on one of their phones, and I would sit them down and ask 'em to tell me. I mean, I think open lines of communication deputy are really the secret

Robert Jensen: Melanie, you have the key to the castle right there talking to your kid. So many times we come in because a parent truly doesn't know what to do, so they call us. all we do is we sit down and we kind of mediate this conversation where the child can open up to their parents and sometimes, that's never been established before.

So we are asking, yes, you two, like I said earlier, communicate with your kids. Find out what's going on. I wanna just reemphasize too, just to go back a little bit. there's a total misconception right now that says, because marijuana is now legal, that it must be safe. Well, if you're under 25, your brain is still developing.

It is not safe for you to consume. That is just a fact. And marijuana in all forms, including the pens, including, gummies that everybody thinks are fine 'cause it's candy and candy's good. Right? Well, no, especially when you're selling to minors, you're gonna have an issue where.

you're putting yourself at risk of having not a regulated drug coming to you, there's a high propensity for it to be laced with fentanyl or some other harmful substance or even just a filler.

even vapes or edibles that are advertised as just THC may also contain, super dangerous synthetic drugs or other completely unknown chemicals. So, things to be looking for. Just to go back to your point with the parents, what do you do? Look for like those sudden shifts in mood or friend groups.

All of a sudden your kids stopped hanging out with the straight A students and now they're, dressing differently. They're talking differently, they're using slang. new things that some kind of attitude shift with your kids. look at those private social media accounts or, you know, the burner accounts, if you will.

and then anything that is secretive with your kids needs to be a red flag, especially when it comes to online activity, phone activity, packages arriving at home or friends just dropping stuff off, that kind of thing. And then to the kids listening to this, to the youth, please remember that privacy does not equal safety.

Just because something is online and it disappears on Snapchat, or you think it goes away forever, it does not mean it's safe, and it does not mean it's anonymous. if you see something, whether you or your, child sees something that, sounds fishy, looks fishy, just report it. And you can even do that within the app.

You can report these things within the Snapchat or, Instagram platforms. A lot of those profiles, they do not want that stuff going on. On their platforms. So you can report it even within the app, and it can stop there because you've removed it from your grasp, right? I think really what we're emphasizing here today, Melanie, is just that parent communication with their child, understanding what's going on on their phone, understanding what's going on in their life.

I think those are big things. and then get your kids outside. Go buy 'em an e-bike or something that, you know, like go put 'em on the PEOs and get some sun and have friends outside. A lot of times what we're seeing is, uh, you know, with covid especially the, the, the face-to-face friendships are dying and now we have screen to screen friendships.

So if we can flip those numbers, I think we'll see a lot of growth and improvement.

Melanie Cole (Host): Wow, you have so much great information. Deputy Jensen and I will add as a parent of a 22 and 25-year-old parents listening, as he said, the communication is certainly the key. And another bit of advice I would like to offer is that I. One thing I did with my kids was I kind of put the fear into them of the drugs that are out there, especially these street drugs now.

And I told them that people are doing really, really dastardly things to these drugs, like deputy said, fentanyl and things like that. And once you swallow something. Tell this to your kids. 'cause it's scared mine. Once you swallow something, you can't change your mind. If you swallow something, you cannot take it back.

And so, you know, if they drink a beer, okay, they wait it out a little. But if they swallow anything, if you take a pill, if you do something like that, you cannot change your mind. You're all in. And that's where the danger is. So give your kids a little bit of the fear of these street drugs because they are scary and they're dangerous.

And Deputy Jensen, you are just. Such an awesome guest, and as I understand it, we can follow you on Instagram at CV Sheriff. Yes.

Robert Jensen: Yep, that's correct.

Melanie Cole (Host): Okay, well all of us go follow SCV Sheriff on Instagram. He's got so much great information for us safety. Parents. That's what it's about. It's keeping our kids safe online and out there in the world, and it's our job to give them roots and wings, but we don't want those wings to take them when they're not ready for it.

So let's all. Heed this great advice and share it with your friends and family on your social channels. You can also visit the free health. You can also visit the free Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital online health information library@library.henrymayo.com. That concludes this episode of It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.

I'm Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for joining in on our conversation today. Now, just hang on.