Hard drugs are being openly advertised on social media and delivered by Canada Post, report finds

One person compared the ease of purchasing drugs online to buying goods on Amazon, saying, ‘It's unbelievable to see this on social media’

Hard drugs are being openly advertised on social media and delivered by Canada’s national postal service, according to a new report.

A weeks-long investigation by broadcaster CBC Ottawa and its French service Radio-Canada found hundreds of ads offering cocaine, heroin and ecstasy popping up on online platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

These ads lead to more than a dozen different websites selling the drugs, which could be paid for using credit cards and electronic transfers, and are delivered by Canada Post, according to the report.

One anonymous buyer told the Canadian broadcaster about his experience with the online ads.

"So you have this ad, it looks professional. You go on the website and it’s very easy. It's like on Amazon. You have many drugs, and you have cocaine,” the buyer said. “I was like, it's unbelievable to see this on social media."

Hard drugs are being openly advertised on social media and delivered by Canada’s national postal service, according to a new report (Matthieu Delaty/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)

The buyer had been addicted to cocaine in the past and said it was now available to him at the touch of a button.

“I opened the package and I was like, OK, it's real. It's real stuff, it's real cocaine," he said.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, told CBC, “Content that attempts to buy, sell or trade illicit drugs is not allowed on our platforms.”

The company said it removed “flagged ads and pages, disabled the ad accounts, and restricted the account admins from running ads in the future.”

An investigation by broadcaster CBC Ottawa and its French service Radio-Canada found hundreds of ads offering cocaine, heroin and ecstasy popping up on online platforms such as Facebook and Instagram (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

For its part, Canada Post assured that flagged illegal drugs are turned over to the authorities.

"When our Postal Inspectors confirm that an item contains an illegal drug, they remove the item from the mail stream and turn it over to the police,” the mail carrier said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada’s national police force, told CBC it was “actively targeting individuals and networks profiting from the sale of illicit substances online.”

As authorities are trying to crack down on the advertising of drugs online in Canada it’s having real consequences on vulnerable people.

"If you have addiction and you go on social media and you see this every day, and many times every day, it will keep you in this addiction," the anonymous buyer who spoke with CBC said.