Boba Fett, blue fish, and fettuccine: How L.A. fentanyl sales boomed on Craigslist

At first glance, the items listed for sale on Craigslist seemed benign: Blue socks. “All those barriers that kept a lot of people away from drugs, those have been removed,” said Bill Bodner, former special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles field division. In one ad, titled “funFETti cupcakes w/ fun fet frosting,” he offered “several delicious batches of cupcakes ready to go, of course the most popular flavor funfetti is always on hand!” and directed potential buyers to “Call or text anytime day or night.” The dealer who said he’d been using the site for five years told Times reporters that he insists on meeting potential buyers in a public place and screens for law enforcement, in part by asking first-time customers to use drugs with him. In response to questions about ongoing drug sales on Craigslist, Matthew Allen, special agent in charge of the DEA’s L.A. division, said the agency “works to educate social media platforms and e-commerce companies about how their platforms are being used for the sale and distribution of deadly and dangerous illicit drugs.” Posts on Craigslist indicate some users are aware of drug slang being actively blocked on the site — while others are confused when their innocuous posts get inadvertently flagged as suspicious. Until Times reporters contacted Craigslist last month, the site’s search function still suggested a range of drug terms, including “pain pills” and “M30s,” along with common slang such as “Roxy blue shorts” and “fine china white.” At the same time, other problematic keywords, such as “heroin” and “prostitute” were not suggested when the first few letters were typed.