‘What if you live on top of a bakery and you like cakes?’—Drug use and harm trajectories before, during and after the emergence of Silk Road

Abstract

In the context of high levels of drug access, supply and diversity occurring within a community regulated environment online, the impacts of cryptomarkets upon drug use trajectories are complex, often posing new challenges for self-control, yet not always leading to harmful outcomes. A major policy challenge is how to provide support for harm reduction in these highly volatile settings.

Cryptomarkets, systemic violence and the ‘gentrification hypothesis’

“…Google-indexed webshops, social media, drug fora and cryptomarkets). Our own research showed that, in the Netherlands, only 15% of all online drug purchases could be identified as sourced through cryptomarkets [2]. In fact, the proportion of online sourced drugs is expected to be different from country to country, as exemplified by the huge differences between countries in the sourcing of drugs via cryptomarkets [3], seriously limiting the generalizability of debates about harms or benefits.…”

“…As Aldridge et al [1] and others [2] persuasively argue, this shift has important implications regarding harm for drug users, as well as for other participants in the drug economy. One of the least understood aspects of cryptomarket-related harms is their relationship to systemic drug violence.…”

Seller’s reputation and capacity on the illicit drug markets: 11-month study on the Finnish version of the Silk Road

“…However, most of the drugs in Finland are sold through traditional routes. It is also possible that Silkkitie provides a forum for new types of drug users who would not necessarily buy their drugs from the normal offline markets (Barratt et al, 2016a(Barratt et al, , 2016b.…”

“…Studies on the Silk Road indicate that users were typically males in their 20s and prioritised the Silk Road over street markets for quality reasons and for personal safety (Barratt et al, 2014;Van Hout and Bingham, 2013b;Barratt et al, 2016a, Barratt et al, 2016b. Cryptomarket users have been characterised as a "technological drug subculture" (Van Hout and Bingham, 2013b), which also represents a form of online activism underlining individual freedoms based on libertarian ethos .…”

“…Cryptomarket users have been characterised as a "technological drug subculture" (Van Hout and Bingham, 2013b), which also represents a form of online activism underlining individual freedoms based on libertarian ethos . Users' right to choose is combined with the expressed joy of having the opportunity to choose their preferred drugs like "kids in a candy store" (Barratt et al, 2016b).…”