On World Drug Day, 26 June 2026, Germany released its annual drug use survey. Among adults aged 18 to 25, 18.7 percent have tried at least one illegal drug. In 2023 the figure was 13.5 percent.
For cocaine specifically: in 2015, 1.2 percent of that age group had tried it. In 2025: 4.1 percent.
The Federal Drug Commissioner, Hendrik Streeck, identified the supply mechanism. "Digitale Kanäle beschleunigen diesen Zugang," he said. Digital channels accelerate access.
The same week, the United Kingdom became the sixth European government to announce a social media ban for children under sixteen. Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, and X will be blocked from offering services to under-16s. Messaging services -- WhatsApp, Signal -- are not included.
Telegram is not included.
Australia has been operating a social media ban for under-16s since December 2025. In January, 4.7 million accounts were deactivated. In June, a survey of roughly 900 parents by the eSafety Commission found that approximately 70 percent of affected minors still had active social media accounts.
One method for bypassing the age verification system: a printed photograph of Michael Jackson, held in front of the camera. A 14-year-old told the Australian broadcaster ABC that this worked.
The German Ethics Council recommended in June against a blanket age ban, noting that children are "very good at circumventing restrictions and prohibitions." The Council recommended platform design changes and parental tools instead.
Six governments have disagreed.
The institutions created to enforce digital child protection are well-funded. In 2023-24, the Australian government quadrupled the eSafety Commissioner's base funding to A$42.5 million a year. For enforcement of the social media age ban specifically, A$16.163 million has been allocated; the Commissioner expects to spend it all. The 70 percent figure is the current result.
In the United Kingdom, Ofcom's budget for Online Safety regulation stands at £72.6 million for the current financial year. The total spent establishing the online safety regulatory regime since 2023 is approximately £169 million. Ofcom is now acquiring additional duties under the children's social media ban.
The enforcement infrastructure required for a network-level ban has been described with some precision by firms offering to supply it. One such firm, Fox Security Advisory, told The Prompt in June: "Any filtering system requires visibility into what is being filtered."
An ISP-level implementation would have visibility into traffic from every subscriber -- not only accounts registered to minors. The Prompt asked Fox Security Advisory what it does with that data. The answer: "We provide filtering decisions."
The European External Action Service -- the EU's diplomatic service, with 139 delegations worldwide -- operated in 2024 on a budget of approximately €880 million. Presenting the accounts to the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control in November, High Representative Kaja Kallas noted: "In 2024, the EEAS delivered more with essentially the same means as the previous year."
Delegations are being reduced.
The Belgian justice system is responsible for drug enforcement. Antwerp handles more than 70 percent of cocaine entering Europe -- a Europol figure for 2024. In March 2026, the president of the Antwerp court warned publicly that Belgium was approaching narco-state conditions. In December 2025, Belga News Agency reported that the justice system was "hampered by underfunding and structural inefficiencies." The judge delivered the same warning to the prime minister directly: the underfunding must be fixed.
In the first half of 2025, 16.7 tonnes of cocaine were seized at Antwerp. Traffickers adjusted and continued.
In March 2024, the Ordnungsamt of Düsseldorf conducted a routine inspection of a pizzeria in the Altstadt. The purpose of the visit was to check for Schwarzarbeit -- undeclared employment. One employee was visibly nervous. In the back of the restaurant, inspectors found drugs packaged in jars and bags.
The restaurant had been offering, as item number 40 on its menu, a pizza priced at 40 euros. The side dish was cocaine. Police described it, subsequently, as "one of the best-selling pizzas."
The operator was arrested. He was released two days later. Police confirmed they had released him deliberately, to track his supply network. He resumed selling Pizza Nr. 40.
He was arrested again on 21 August 2024. By that point police had identified three suspected suppliers and twelve other suspects. Seized: 1.6 kilograms of cocaine, 400 grams of cannabis, and 268,000 euros in cash. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment on 31 January 2025.
The Ordnungsamt was not looking for drugs. It was checking whether the staff were properly employed.
The platforms listed in the UK ban are Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, and X. These are platforms where registered users interact under visible profiles, subject to terms of service, incorporated in identifiable jurisdictions, and accessible via standard internet connections.
Drug markets operate on different infrastructure. Encrypted messaging applications, dark web marketplaces, and peer networks do not have registered user profiles associated with age. They are not included in the scope of the legislation.
The Federal Drug Commissioner said digital channels accelerate drug access for young people. The channels referenced in the government's response are not the channels he described.
The United Kingdom has also passed the Smokefree Generations Act. Anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 will never be legally able to purchase tobacco in the UK. The prohibition takes effect in 2027.
The same cohort is covered by the social media ban. There is no equivalent act for cocaine.
Germany allows the purchase of beer and wine at the age of 16. Germany is not raising the legal drinking age. The Federal Drug Commissioner's warning about digital channels and cocaine was directed at the 18-25 cohort. The debate about social media bans centres on the under-16 group. The Jugendschutzgesetz has not been amended for alcohol since 2021.
The Ordnungsamt inspector who visited the Düsseldorf pizzeria in March 2024 was checking for labour violations. The network-level filter being sold to governments as a child protection architecture routes all traffic through a classification server before returning it to the subscriber.
In Australia, A$42.5 million a year produces a 70 percent non-compliance rate. In Belgium, the courts are underfunded while 70 percent of Europe's cocaine arrives by sea.
One of these systems found the drugs. It was not the one that sees all the traffic.
X. Voidwriter