When I first discovered the Silk Road, I couldn't believe it was real. People were buying illegal drugs anonymously through global marketplaces similar to eBay and Amazon. It was a brazen challenge to drug prohibition.
Silk Road was the first drug “crypto market.” After he was shut down by the FBI in 2013, many similar marketplaces sprang up.
There are currently over 20 crypto marketplaces selling illegal drugs, and over 55 if you include single-vendor marketplaces.
On Tuesday, the International Drug Policy Journal published its first special issue on drug crypto markets, which we guest edited. All papers are open access until his October 31st.
What are they and how do they work?
Cryptomarkets host multiple sellers or “vendors,” provide participants with anonymity through hidden web location information and the use of cryptocurrencies for payments, and aggregate customer feedback ratings and comments. will be displayed.
The hidden web, also known as the dark web, can only be accessed using anonymization software that hides the identity of Internet users. Cryptocurrency, most famously Bitcoin, is a digital, non-ID form of cash.
Medicines are usually sent through regular postal services, and sellers typically use stealth techniques to increase the chances of the goods arriving undetected. While some buyers have elaborate systems in place to avoid detection (drop points, alter egos, etc.), our how-to guide teaches buyers how to protect their deliveries, which are typically sent in standard business envelopes. We advise you to use your real name and address to receive it.
What kind of medicines are available?
The most popular drugs in the crypto market are surprisingly consistent from market to market and across time.
By counting the number of listings posted by vendors and customer feedback ratings to estimate sales revenue, the drugs that dominate these markets include cannabis, ecstasy/MDMA, and stimulants (such as amphetamines and cocaine). ), and pharmaceuticals (such as sedatives). and performance enhancers).
The cryptocurrency market thus far appears to be serving more recreational and “party” drug users than addictive or problem drug users.
Are they of better quality?
Users of the cryptocurrency market say that drugs purchased there are likely to be of better quality and pure.
Through laboratory testing, Energy Control has determined that drugs such as cocaine are purer and less likely to be cut through the cryptocurrency market than through traditional sources.
However, it is important to remember that drug purity is not the same as drug quality. While some may praise drug combinations for their unique effects, others may consider them to be “admixtures.”
Furthermore, the cryptocurrency market does not always sell pure or unadulterated products. Last year, warnings circulated that a drug sold as heroin in the cryptocurrency market actually contains fentanyl, a particularly powerful opioid.
Who is buying it?
Four papers in the special issue surveyed or interviewed people who obtained drugs from virtual currency markets (1, 2, 3, 4). In all cases, the participant profile was predominantly male (at least 80%) and in his early to mid-20s in age.
Most of the people who purchase drugs from the virtual currency market have already established a career in drug use. However, fewer people used the cryptocurrency market to buy drugs for the first time or to resume drug use after a long period of abstinence.
How will they impact the broader pharmaceutical market?
Cryptomarkets do not only cater to drug consumers. It also acts as an intermediary at the wholesale level. An estimated quarter of revenue is derived from wholesale transactions, and a quarter of survey respondents reported acquiring medicines through virtual currency markets to supply others.
Will virtual currency markets reduce drug market violence?
Data from the Global Drug Survey shows that crypto market customers report fewer incidents of violence when purchasing from crypto markets than their preferred alternative sources (usually dealer friends and acquaintances). Masu.
Conflicts may manifest in other forms, such as damage to reputation through “doxing” (threat to access and expose personal information), other forms of extortion, theft, fraud, cyberbullying, etc. Vendors can scam buyers, buyers can scam vendors, and through “exit scams” administrators can shut down entire marketplaces and walk away with funds, sometimes worth millions of dollars. There is a possibility.
Although virtual currency markets enable the globalization and flattening of drug trade, international trade is not an inevitable outcome. Willingness to ship internationally was associated with lower package weight, lower vendor feedback ratings, and perceived lower effectiveness of law enforcement in the country to which the vendor shipped.
Vendors from countries with wealthy populations and high pharmaceutical spending were less willing to ship internationally.
beyond drugs
Cryptocurrency markets are more than just places to trade drugs and other goods and services. Famously, the Silk Road had a libertarian mission to minimize state interference in the lives of its citizens.
The libertarian discourse that permeated Silk Road sharply declined across the crypto market ecosystem after Silk Road's closure. A new crypto market has emerged, perhaps built with different primary motivations.
Despite this decline, cryptomarkets can still be understood as a form of political activity and as resistance to the dominant paradigm. These markets are outside state control and instead rely on informal governance and community self-regulation.
What does the future hold for the cryptocurrency market?
Trends show that the usage of the pharmaceutical virtual currency market is increasing over time, but there may be limits to its growth.
One challenge could arise from a breach of the technology that the cryptocurrency market relies on, such as Tor or Bitcoin.
Second, market regulatory mechanisms can be compromised by covert infiltration by law enforcement and erosion of trust through escape fraud.
Third, drug purchasers may perceive greater risk when purchasing through virtual currency markets than through traditional drug transactions.
Despite these potential challenges, innovation is happening rapidly, and some markets are designed to prevent managers from walking away with their money.
As virtual currencies become easier to obtain and their use becomes more difficult to track, the use of virtual currency markets by pharmaceutical distributors and their pharmaceutical purchasing customers could increase dramatically.
