Gangs are targeting the children of teachers, nurses and GPs to run drugs into rural areas, a council has been told.
Children turn to crime due to a lack of job opportunities, a charity told Monmouthshire councillors.
Dealers set up county lines supply routes to try to recruit "clean skins" - teenagers with no criminal record - the charity also said.
They can be recruited via social media, it added.
"We work with many families where the parents are professionals, teachers, nurses and GPs," said Rebecca Miller, a team leader for the St Giles Trust Cymru.
The cost of living, children struggling to return to school following the Covid pandemic and a lack of employment opportunities all contributed to young people falling into crime, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
