(Brussels) Poverty, traumas, fragile families, early school leaving, debts, intimidations and a lack of alternatives very often hide behind the ever-increasing number of young people used as drug mules or lookouts. This is, in a nutshell, the warning sent out by the European Union Drugs Agency, which calls the members states to strengthen prevention and measures against the recruitment of young people through criminal networks. Based on the last Report published on September 30^th and now online, the rise of such phenomenon seems to be helped by the use of digital devices. Social media, encrypted messaging, gaming platforms and influencer jargons are regarded by the Agency as instruments to quickly attract, incite and assign tasks to young people in vulnerable situations. According to Europol’s data mentioned in the Report, young people seem to be involved in over 70% of criminal networks, not just in drug dealing but in frauds, cybercrime and migrant smuggling too. And this happens through different modes of entry: some are actively recruited, some grow in families or contexts that are already connected with crime, and some are instead held by debts, threats and intimidations. According to the Agency, the answers must come first and foremost from the local context, link schools, families, social services, justice, associations and local communities together. Family support systems, tools to quickly intercept criminal activity, reliable economic and relational alternatives are needed.