DEA Omaha Field Division Raising Social Media Awareness as Students Return to School

OMAHA, Neb. – As students prepare to return to school, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Omaha Field Division is reminding communities about the hidden threat of drug trafficking through social media platforms, while also encouraging families to have conversations about the potentially lethal consequences of drug experimentation.

It’s estimated than 95% of American teenagers between the ages of 13-17 have access to a smartphone. With this in mind, the DEA recently released a series of short videos, “Hidden on Your Kid’s Phone,” as a way to raise awareness to the threat of drug trafficking through social media. The series is designed to give parents and caregivers the information needed to protect their families. 

The DEA is aware of drug traffickers using social media platforms to advertise the sale of deadly drugs through posts and disappearing stories. Often accompanied by known code words and emojis, these posts connect prospective buyers with dealers where conversation then move to encrypted communication apps like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram. Similar to legitimate online purchases, payment can be made through apps such as Venmo, Zelle and Cash App, with delivery often as easy as dropping off a package to your front door.

“Social media is just another avenue that drug dealers are using to push counterfeit pills and other poisons to a new generation,” DEA Omaha Field Division Special Agent in Charge Dustin Gillespie said. “Sit down as a family. Talk about the fact that pills sold online may claim to be one thing, when often, they’re laced with deadly doses of fentanyl. Stay on top of your kids’ phone. It’s not bad parenting; it’s a potentially life-saving measure.”

Across the five-state DEA Omaha Field Division agents have seized more than 67,000 fentanyl pills in the first seven months of 2026. This number is down from years’ past, while fentanyl powder seizures have increased nearly 87% from the same time last year. Altogether, fentanyl pill and powder seizures account for than four million deadly doses removed from communities in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. 

For more information on drug trafficking efforts through social media, visit dea.gov/onepill and download the fact sheet or view the Hidden on Your Kid’s Phone videos at www.GetSmartAboutDrugs.gov/Hidden.