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Appearing on TV, Laura Berman is a therapist specializing in sexuality and relationships.
At home in Manhattan Beach, Calif., she had been the mother to three boys.
When one, 16-year-old Sammy, died from fentanyl poisoning, via a line of cocaine laced with the synthetic opiate, that he bought from a dealer on Snapchat, she was one more mom who found herself dealing with heartbreak.
Now she is on a mission to make sure that other parents don’t suffer the same fate.
She is doing that by pushing for the passage of Sammy’s Law — which will allow parents to be notified about “dangerous content is on their devices” — and is one of 64 other parents suing Snap, Snapchat’s parent company, for product liability following their children’s drug-related deaths.
She has also met Snap’s CEO, Evan Spiegel, to press for change.
“Our youngest son found Sammy in his room,” Berman told The Post of the 2021 incident. “It was Super Bowl Sunday. The drug dealer connected with Sammy through Snapchat.”
According to Berman’s husband Sam Chapman, “The drug got delivered to our home as if it was a pizza. And Sammy died from fentanyl poisoning. He passed out and choked on his own vomit. The [quantity of fentanyl] was enough for an addict and too much for him.”
Berman and Chapman told The Post that they hold Snapchat partly responsible for the death of their son.
The couple is one of multiple bereaved families individually suing parent company Snap, Inc.
Sammy’s parents maintain that the drug dealer, who they say went by the handle Mr.Don248, with the promise of “I deliver” under his name, befriended the teenager via a Snapchat feature known as Quick Add. (The account no longer exists.)
The couple is one of multiple bereaved families individually suing parent company Snap, Inc.
Quick Add refers people on Snapchat to other people on the app as possible friends.
Similar features also expand contact lists on other social-media apps — but those lack the geo-locator component that allows Snapchatters to find one another.
At best, it tells kids where their friends happen to be hanging out or where the cool parties might be.
“Combine the Quick Add with geo-location,” said Chapman, “and it allows drug dealers to friend you and find you. Sammy was sent a colorful menu of drugs and the drug that poisoned Sammy was delivered to our house.”
According to Snap, Sammy would have accepted the dealer as a friend and okayed the dealer knowing his geolocation.
Snap told The Post QuickAdd is not for introducing strangers, but people with whom the account holder has mutual friends or has in their phone contacts; users have to accept requests to be added.
Berman is unmoved. “Letting [teenagers] on Snapchat is the equivalent of dropping them off in the worst part of the city,” she said. “I’m talking about a neighborhood full of drug dealers, pimps, and rapists when [the teenagers] are too young to weigh the consequences of their actions.”