According to a new survey by LendEDU almost 33 percent of millennials have used the mobile app Venmo to purchase illicit drugs like Adderall, marijuana, and cocaine. It should come as no surprise that digital natives are using technology to fuel instant gratification.
In the past, most drug users made cash transactions in back alleys in order to access their addiction of choice. Now more states are legalizing marijuana and allowing citizens to grow their own plants and “gift” a certain amount of pot to friends.
Some states have also decriminalized some harder drugs, like in Oregon, where possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamines are soon to become legal. For those in states without access to these legalized drugs, cyber dealing and transactions are the new way to go.
Prescription medications like Adderall, also known as the study drug, are another ample cash flow for entrepreneurial students on college campuses. There is a large underground market for the pills which students view as the difference between failing or passing each semester.
Venmo expects to bring in $20 billion in revenue for transactions and has stated that it is hard to discriminate if a payment is being made for pizza or shady drug deals. While the app, now owned by PayPal, could hypothetically flag every suspicious transaction, the monumental task would be full of speculation, and would cost the company a fortune.
This new paradigm also makes it much more difficult for law enforcement to track illegal, black market drug transactions. While credit cards are on file, it is impossible to know why an exchange was made, without circumstantial evidence to back up the transaction. Like the old saying goes, “cash is fungible.”
