Investigation: We bought illicit drugs through Facebook ads

The gram of cocaine arrived in a Canada Post package.

So did the Oxycodone, each 20 mg pill sealed in its own baggie emblazoned with green dollar signs and gold crowns.

Inside each package, no attempt was made to conceal the drugs before shipment. “REGULAR COKE,” read the label on the clear plastic container holding the gram of powder. An invoice lay beneath: “Refer a friend for $20 off your next order.”

Ads from the sellers of these addictive and illegal drugs ran on Facebook , the world’s largest social media platform. With one click the Star connected to online shops hawking cocaine, opioids, MDMA, Xanax, ketamine and other illicit substances. It took only a few minutes to order the drugs using Interac e-Transfer.

Meta, the Silicon Valley-based tech giant that owns Facebook an