‘You’ve got m@il: Fluoxetine coming soon!’: Accessibility and quality of a prescription drug sold on the web

Gelatti, Umberto; Pedrazzani, Roberta; Marcantoni, Claudio; Mascaretti, Silvia; Repice, Carla; Filippucci, Laura; Zerbini, Ilaria; Grande, M. Dal; Orizio, Grazia; Feretti, Donatella

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2013.01.006

Cited by 24 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Far from being merely a virtual place for information exchange, as conceived originally, it has become a means for accessing services and goods via 'e-commerce' (Gelatti et al 2013). The sale of NPS has not been excluded from this revolution.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Spice,” “Kryptonite,” “Black Mamba”: An Overview of Brand Names and Marketing Strategies of Novel Psychoactive Substances on the Web

Corazza

Valeriani

Bersani

et al. 2014

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs

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Introduction: Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) are often sold online as 'legal' and 'safer' alternatives to International Controlled Drugs (ICDs) with captivating marketing strategies. Our main aim is to review and summarize such strategies in terms of (i) the appearance of the products,(ii) the brand-names and (iii) the latest trends in the illicit online marketplaces.Methods: Scientific data were searched in PsychInfo and Pubmed databases; results were integrated with an extensive monitoring of Internet (websites, online shops, chat-rooms, fora, social networks) and media sources in 9 languages (English, French, Farsi, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese simplified/traditional) available from secure databases of the Global Public Health Intelligence Network. Results:Evolving strategies for the online diffusion and the retail of NPS were identified, including discounts and periodic offers on chosen products. Advertisements and new brand names have been designed to attract customers, especially young people. An increased number of retailers were recorded as well as new web platforms and privacy systems .Discussion: NPS represent an unprecedented challenge in the field of public health with social, cultural, legal and political implications. Web monitoring activities are essential for mapping the diffusion of NPS and for supporting innovative web-based prevention programmes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Spice,” “Kryptonite,” “Black Mamba”: An Overview of Brand Names and Marketing Strategies of Novel Psychoactive Substances on the Web

Corazza

Valeriani

Bersani

et al. 2014

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs

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show abstract

“…Nevertheless, the authors' examination of this additional set of pharmacies highlighted the presence of similar concentrations. Similarly, Gelatti et al [10], using a different methodology, found that orders for prescription drugs placed at different unlicensed online pharmacies, were fulfilled by a small, fixed set of drug manufacturers.…”

Section: Identifying Drug Suppliersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Independent testing has revealed that the drugs sold through these pharmacies often include the active ingredient, but often in incorrect and potentially dangerous dosages [10,11]. Henney et al [6] and Henney [12] show that, despite the convenience provided by online pharmacies (e.g.…”

Section: Impact Of Online Pharmacies On Public Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scripting the crime commission process in the illicit online prescription drug trade

Leontiadis

Hutchings

2015

J Cyber Secur

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This article considers the processes in the illicit online prescription drug trade, namely search-redirection attacks and the operation of unlicensed pharmacies using crime script analysis. Empirical data have been used to describe the salient elements of the online criminal infrastructures and associated monetization paths enabling criminal profitability. This analysis reveals the existence of structural chokepoints: components of online criminal operations being limited in number, and critical for the operations' profitability. Consequently, interventions targeting such components can reduce the opportunities and incentives to engage in online crime through an increase in criminal operational costs, and in the risk of apprehension.

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“…For example, new psychoactive substances are already distributed through the Web, due to the different legal status of these substances from one country to another [1]. Prescription drugs are also sold online with consumers redirected toward online pharmacies through massive spam campaigns [2]. Besides, online selling of traditional illicit drugs (cocaine, heroin and cannabis) became very popular with the creation Silk Road, in 2011.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buying drugs on a Darknet market: A better deal? Studying the online illicit drug market through the analysis of digital, physical and chemical data

Rhumorbarbe

Staehli

Broséus

et al. 2016

Forensic Science International

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Darknet markets, also known as cryptomarkets, are websites located on the Darknet and designed to allow the trafficking of illicit products, mainly drugs. This study aims at presenting the added value of combining digital, chemical and physical information to reconstruct sellers' activities. In particular, this research focuses on Evolution, one of the most popular cryptomarkets active from January 2014 to March 2015. Evolution source code files were analysed using Python scripts based on regular expressions to extract information about listings (i.e., sales proposals) and sellers. The results revealed more than 48,000 listings and around 2700 vendors claiming to send illicit drug products from 70 countries. The most frequent categories of illicit drugs offered by vendors were cannabis-related products (around 25%) followed by ecstasy (MDA, MDMA) and stimulants (cocaine, speed). The cryptomarket was then especially studied from a Swiss point of view. Illicit drugs were purchased from three sellers located in Switzerland. The purchases were carried out to confront digital information (e.g., the type of drug, the purity, the shipping country and the concealment methods mentioned on listings) with the physical analysis of the shipment packaging and the chemical analysis of the received product (purity, cutting agents, chemical profile based on minor and major alkaloids, chemical class). The results show that digital information, such as concealment methods and shipping country, seems accurate. But the illicit drugs purity is found to be different from the information indicated on their respective listings. Moreover, chemical profiling highlighted links between cocaine sold online and specimens seized in Western Switzerland. This study highlights that (1) the forensic analysis of the received products allows the evaluation of the accuracy of digital data collected on the website, and (2) the information from digital and physical/ chemical traces are complementary to evaluate the practices of the online selling of illicit drugs on cryptomarkets.

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‘You’ve got m@il: Fluoxetine coming soon!’: Accessibility and quality of a prescription drug sold on the web

Cited by 24 publications

References 17 publications

“Spice,” “Kryptonite,” “Black Mamba”: An Overview of Brand Names and Marketing Strategies of Novel Psychoactive Substances on the Web

“Spice,” “Kryptonite,” “Black Mamba”: An Overview of Brand Names and Marketing Strategies of Novel Psychoactive Substances on the Web

Scripting the crime commission process in the illicit online prescription drug trade

Buying drugs on a Darknet market: A better deal? Studying the online illicit drug market through the analysis of digital, physical and chemical data

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