Appearing on TV, Laura Berman is a therapist who specializes in sexuality and relationships.
At home in Manhattan Beach, Calif., she was the mother of three sons.
When one, 16-year-old Sammy, died of fentanyl poisoning, via a line of cocaine laced with synthetic opiates, which she bought from a dealer on Snapchat, she was another mother who found herself dealing with heartbreak.
Now she’s on a mission to make sure other parents don’t suffer the same fate.
He did so by pushing for the passage of Sammy’s Law — which would allow parents to be notified of “harmful content on their devices” — and is one of 64 other parents suing Snap, Snapchat’s parent company, for product liability following children -their child’s drug-related death.
He has even met Snap CEO Evan Spiegel to push for change.
“Our youngest son found Sammy in his room,” Berman told The Post about the 2021 incident. “It’s Super Bowl Sunday. The drug dealer connected with Sammy through Snapchat.”
Sammy Chapman died of fentanyl poisoning at the age of 16. Her parents say she was contacted by the dealer via Snapchat. Courtesy of Dr. Laura Berman
According to Berman’s husband, Sam Chapman, “The drugs were delivered to our house as if they were pizza. And Sammy died of fentanyl poisoning. He passed out and choked on his own vomit. The [quantity of fentanyl] enough for an addict and too much for him.”
Berman and Chapman told The Post that they hold Snapchat partly responsible for their son’s death.
The couple is one of several grieving families who are individually suing parent company Snap, Inc.
Sammy’s parents maintain that the drug dealer, who they say uses the handle Mr.Don248, with the promise of “I deliver” under his name, befriended the teenager through a Snapchat feature known as Quick Add. (The account no longer exists.)
Dr. Laura Berman, pictured here with Oprah Winfrey, is a well-known therapist who specializes in giving advice on relationships and sexuality. OWN
Quick Add refers people on Snapchat to other people on the app as possible friends.
A similar feature also expands contact lists on other social media apps — but those apps lack the geo-locator component that allows Snapchatters to find each other.
According to Snap, “Quick Add and its Snap Map feature are not connected. And location sharing is turned off by default. Users only have the option to share their location with existing friends.”
At best, it tells kids where their friends are hanging out or where an interesting party might be.
“Combine Quick Add with geo-location,” says Chapman, “and it allows drug dealers to befriend you and find you. Sammy was sent a colorful menu of drugs and the drugs that poisoned Sammy were sent to our house.”
Sam Chapman and his wife Dr. Laura Berman told The Post that they hold Snapchat partly responsible for the death of their son Sammy. Tara Pixley
Dr. Laura Berman is protesting Snapchat as part of her mission to make sure other parents don’t have to watch their children die from drugs bought through connections made on the app.AFP via Getty Images
Snap told The Post QuickAdd is not for introducing strangers, but people the account holder has mutual friends with or is in their phone contacts; the user has to accept the request to be added.
Berman didn’t budge. “Letting go [teenagers] on Snapchat is the equivalent of sending them to the worst part of town,” he said. “I’m talking about a neighborhood full of drug dealers, pimps, and rapists when [the teenagers] too young to weigh the consequences of their actions.”
Insult was added to injury for Chapman and Berman when police found a dealer who sold drugs to their son, but the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office chose not to prosecute.
This menu was sent to Sammy, as a guide to choose the medicine he wanted. He bought cocaine and it killed him.Samuel P. Chapman
“They said that the drugs were obtained before Sammy’s death,” Chapman told The Post. “So, anything can happen at the same time.”
The LA DA’s office told The Post, “We cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the drugs that caused Samuel’s death were sold by this particular dealer. All this does not deny the great loss that this family feels. They are very sympathetic to us.”
In a few weeks, Sammy’s face will be plastered on billboards in Los Angeles.
Prepared by a drug education nonprofit called Rachel’s Angels, it warns, “Fentanyl is stealing teenagers.”
Sam Chapman is upset with the LA County DA’s office for refusing to prosecute the dealer who sold his son fentanyl-laced cocaine. Tara Pixley
Sammy’s parents are upset over what they see as Snapchat’s role in their son’s drug-related death.
Attorney Laura Marquez-Garrett is representing 65 families in a separate fentanyl-related product liability lawsuit against Snapchat.
One litigator is Perla Mendoza of Seal Beach, Calif.
Her son Elijah was 20 when she called her friend, via Snapchat, and asked if she had any leads on Xann.
This billboard, featuring Sammy and warning about the dangers of fentanyl, will soon be posted in Los Angeles.Samuel P. Chapman
“That’s short for Xanax,” Mendoza told The Post, adding that, that day, he overdosed on fentanyl.
“The friend referred him to two other people on Snapchat. He contacted one of those people by befriending him.
“It appears that the initial contact was made on Snapchat. It’s not flashy. There was no mention of fentanyl.”
Later, he added, “Narcotics investigators told me that Elijah shouldn’t be on the dark web. But Snapchat is not the dark web.
Dr. Laura Berman (above) and more than 60 parents believe that Snapchat is contributing to their children’s drug-related deaths. Courtesy of Dr. Laura Berman
Marquez and his clients argue that they are pressuring Snapchat to make adjustments that could prevent this from happening to other children and in court filings accuse it of being “the primary means of drug trafficking to children, teenagers and young adults through social media.”
They claim Snap is involved in a far greater number of teenage fentanyl deaths than any other social media app and its default feature to delete posts after 24 hours makes it clear it will be a “haven for drug trafficking.”
Marquez told The Post that parents are trying to make changes happen.
“Snap made a promise that they didn’t keep,” he told The Post. “This claim is a last resort. These companies understand nothing but money.”
Dr Laura Berman and Mark Chapman on either side of their son Sammy. Courtesy of Dr. Laura Berman
Snap will try to have the case dismissed on October 18 in Superior Court in Los Angeles.
According to Snap, changes have been made, including in-app warnings and stronger friendship protections designed to prevent contact with unsavory individuals.
Expressing empathy for “families who have suffered unimaginable loss,” a Snap spokesperson told The Post, “We use advanced technology to help us proactively find and remove drug content and accounts. We block search results for drug-related terms. And we work closely with experts to share patterns of drug traffickers’ activities across other platforms.”
The company also said it is retaining data from suspended accounts and has “extended our support for law enforcement investigations, including by lawfully preserving and disclosing data to assist in their efforts.”
Snap claims that the changes are to improve security. Dr. Laura Berman (above) urged the company to do more.Tara Pixley
In addition to including themselves in the suit, Berman and Chapman have developed into what they call “accidental activists.”
They are pushing for the enactment of Sammy’s Law, which would give parents the ability to track their children’s online activities and be notified when certain words are used in communications on apps, through third-party software.
They argue that this is currently not possible on Snapchat, which, according to a Pew Research Center survey, will be used by 60% of teenagers aged 13 to 17 in 2022.
Their quest is captured in a documentary.
Snap argues that “there is no independent evidence that allowing parents to monitor their teen’s communications necessarily leads to a lower risk of safety or well-being issues.”
Dr. Laura Berman and Sam Chapman are pushing for the passage of Sammy’s Law, which would give parents the ability to track their children’s online activities. Tara Pixley
Snapchat offers a tool called Family Center, which allows parents to see who their children are communicating with.
But, unlike the third-party software that Sammy’s Law rallies around, it doesn’t tell them what’s actually being broadcast or communicated.
Opponents of such third-party software cite privacy violations. “Screw their privacy,” Berman said. “I’m just curious about some keywords.”
Dr. Laura Berman meets Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. He said that he “didn’t give us enough satisfaction.” Tara Pixley
Pointing out that the words seemed innocuous to parents, he added, ‘Snowflake’ would be code for cocaine. ‘Plug’ refers to the dealer.”
Berman and Chapman have met with Snap CEO Evan Spiegel to discuss their concerns. “He said the right thing,” Berman said.
“He said he felt sorry for us. We told him the trouble we were having to contact him and the police said that Snapchat was no help. [After the conversation] he put more people to respond to police requests.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel with wife Miranda Kerr. Sam Chapman wonders if Spiegel will let his kids use Snapchat when they grow up.FilmMagic
“I asked why he didn’t allow it [a third-party software] on the system. He talks a word salad about privacy and data. They created a PSA about the dangers of fentanyl if a child ingests fentanyl [on a Snapchat post]. But he didn’t give us enough satisfaction.”
A Snap spokesperson told The Post, referring to Spiegel, “He is deeply committed to doing our part to aggressively address this epidemic. We are thinking of the Chapman family and other families who have suffered a profound loss and we will not waver in our commitment to help raise awareness and combating this crisis. In Chapman’s case, Snap cooperated with the Santa Monica Police Department’s investigation and provided all the information they requested.”
Sam Chapman wonders about Spiegel’s personal decisions. “Evan Spiegel’s kids aren’t old enough to use Snapchat,” Chapman said. “It will be interesting to see if he will allow them to be there when they are teenagers.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
