Cryptomarkets, systemic violence and the ‘gentrification hypothesis’

Abstract

Commentary to: Will growth in cryptomarket drug buying increase the harms of illicit drugs?

Harms, benefits and the policing of cryptomarkets: a response to commentaries

“…As with independent drug checking services that cater primarily to recreational drug users, cryptomarket drug buying seems, probably disproportionately, to exclude from its benefits those most likely to experience drug harms. Martin makes a similar observation in connection to the potential for cryptomarkets to reduce violence. To the extent that these platforms predominantly serve buyers of drugs such as 3,4‐methylenedioxy‐methamphetamine (MDMA) and cannabis, sold typically in markets in which systemic violence is already relatively rare, cryptomarkets may have limited impact in reducing violence where its effects are most problematic.…”

“…The disproportionate involvement of organized criminal groups with an established reputation for violence in Australian methamphetamine markets may have functioned to increase the comparative risk—and therefore price—for off‐line‐sourced methamphetamine, consistent with Reuter & Kleiman's ‘risk and prices’ framework . To the extent that cryptomarkets facilitate anonymity and physical separation among buyers, sellers and other drug market actors, Martin encourages us not to ‘write off minor reductions in systemic violence as inconsequential’ .…”

“…We thank the authors of the four commentaries for their critical and fruitful engagement with our question: ‘Will growth in cryptomarket drug buying increase the harms of illicit drugs?’ .…”

Narkotikamarkeder på nett. En begrepsutvikling av digital kapital

“…Til tross for økt fokus, retter mye av forskningen seg inn mot visse temaer som mer deskriptive studier (bl.a. Barratt & Aldridge, 2016;Aldridge & Décary-Hétu, 2016), risiko (Aldridge & Askew, 2017;Ladegaard, 2017) og skadereduksjon (Martin, 2017;. Mer dyptgående, sosiologiske analyser er naermest fravaerende, foruten noen artikler om tillit (Tzanetakis et al, 2016), markedsstruktur og økonomi (Bakken, Moeller & Sandberg, 2017;Munksgaard, Demant & Moeller, 2017) eller politiske og kulturelle orienteringer (Munksgaard & Demant, 2016).…”

Producing Trust Among Illicit Actors: A Techno-Social Approach to an Online Illicit Market

“…The growing threats from both law enforcement and hostile actors have shifted the market power structure away from consumers and towards vendors, so more powerful vendors can use the system to push risk back onto the consumer (Moeller et al, 2017). As well as altering the economic and social structure of the drug market they have an impact on normative interaction, promoting both prosocial displays (Martin, 2017) and a 'rational consumer' stance by participants (Barratt, Lenton, et al, 2016). In comparison, we explore a system of building and maintaining trust that is technically unsophisticated but socially resilient, in which users have a shared commitment to the market as a community.…”