Do Online Illicit Drug Market Exchanges Afford Rationality?

Abstract

<jats:p> Rational choice perspectives have been the dominant models used for conceptualizing the nature of exchanges in illicit drug markets, but various critiques have found these abstracted assumptions inadequate for understanding concrete illicit drug market activity. Considerably less, however, is known about key aspects of rationality in exchanges within online drug markets. Recognizing the inadequacies of an underlying homo economicus, we instead conceive drug market exchanges as complex assemblages, noting how exchanges are reconstructed in online spaces, and technological affordances may facilitate elements of rationality in drug exchanges. Adopting these notions allows us to argue that aspects of rationality can potentially contribute to an understanding of exchange practices in online markets, and that online channels can afford assumptions of utility-maximization, rich market information to guide decision-making, and anonymity in the exchange. In addition, consideration is given to the structural variability of online illicit drug markets, and that the affordance of rationality should be considered across a spectrum of applicability that takes into account the specifics of each dimension of online drug market (i.e. drug cryptomarkets, illicit online pharmacies, and “app-based” drug markets). </jats:p>

“Do You Need Someone to Share With?”: Exchange and Demand Sharing in Social Cannabis Supply

“…Social supply is typically motivated by social concerns, such as the cultivation of friendships and suppliers wanting to help close friends who have run dry, or who are afraid to contact a “real” dealer themselves (Coomber & Turnbull, 2007; Parker, 2000). As argued by Childs et al (2020), “social supply of drugs predominantly occurs through the sharing and gifting of substances” (p. 307). Social supply can however also involve individuals buying drugs on behalf of a less experienced friend or a larger friendship group (Belackova & Vaccaro, 2013; Coomber & Turnbull, 2007; Coomber et al, 2016; Hathaway et al, 2018; Werse, 2008).…”

“…Research on drug markets has traditionally drawn on neoclassical economic models, resulting in a primary focus on monetary exchanges and a conceptualization of drug suppliers and receivers as utility-maximizing “sellers” and “buyers”: While the former wants to sell at the highest price, the latter wants to purchase at the cheapest (Dwyer & Moore, 2010; Sandberg, 2012a). In contrast to such understandings, studies of friend-to-friend drug supply argue that the term “social supply” is useful to capture the unique qualities of this type of supply, which is at odds with economic and rational choice perspectives of market exchange (Childs et al, 2020; Coomber et al, 2016).…”

Potential Influences of the Darknet on Illicit Drug Diffusion

“…Silk Road's openness and anonymity signalled the arrival of a new type of drug diffusion [13]. It also signalled a new paradigm for drug markets that has since been emulated in other venues [14][15][16], one that emphasises information dense rationality in exchange [17].…”

“…Cryptomarkets are a focus for the gentrification hypothesis which proposes that a combination of long-established social, economic and technical conditions is serving to reduce the importance of violence and predation in drug distribution [17,43]. Drug delivery has displaced street-or house-based exchanges in some circumstances; drug markets have become segmented by class and race; and the opportunities for combining drug dealing with other viceexploitation crimes has declined [44].…”

Blowing in the Wind: Cannabis Legalization, Insiders, and Methodological Insights from British Columbia

“…The assumptions that underlie rational choice perspectives have long been the dominant means of understanding illicit exchanges; however, various critiques have emerged (Childs et al, 2020). While applying rational choice theories to cannabis use is not without problems (Sandberg, 2012), logical approaches to reduce, prevent, and control crime can be used to understand how illicit markets operate.…”