According to the research, the number of drug deals taking place on the dark web has tripled since 2013, although the number of deals could be much higher as Rand Europe faced difficulties in collecting data due to the secretive nature of online marketplaces.
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We’re living in a post-Silk Road world, and in it, online drug sales are exploding.
When Silk Road was shut down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2013, drug enforcement authorities probably hoped that would be the end of it; but a new study by Rand Europe suggests the actually the opposite has happened.
These online sites can be accessed only using a specialized web browser.
At the time of its closure, the Silk Road was the largest cryptomarket selling illegal drugs, processing an estimated $15 million in transactions annually.
“A possible explanation for these differences between online and offline markets may be that crypto-market purchases typically require an element of planning, which may not suit the daily use of dependent users of, for instance, heroin”, the report said.
The most popular drug of choice on the dark web was found to be cannabis (33%), followed by prescription medication (19%), stimulants (18%), ecstasy-type drugs (125), and psychedelics (11%). This reflects figures from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) for drugs sold offline.
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Researchers from Rand Europe, working in conjunction with academics from the United Kingdom and Canada, in January collected data on drug deals from the eight largest darknet markets, which are Amazon-type online marketplaces that can only be accessed with an encrypted connection.
