Buxton and Bingham Analyze Challenges in Controlling Dark Net Drug Markets

In a new report for the OSF-funded Global Drug Policy Observatory (GDPO) at Swansea University, Associate Dean and Professor Julia Buxton and Tim Bingham discuss the challenge of Dark Net drug markets for law enforcement agencies.

Online sales of illicit substances on Dark Net markets will grow exponentially in the coming years due to increased internet access, new “secure” technologies, expanding use of social media and continued demand for illicit drugs. These drug markets pose challenges to both law enforcement as well as the UN international drug control system and related legal frameworks. Law enforcement agencies are hampered by “an acknowledged lack of technical capacity, legal constraints, and poor international enforcement coordination” while traditional enforcement strategies of surveillance, interdiction and market “takedowns” have served only to proliferate new sites and technological innovation.

The paper argues for a radical new approach that recognizes the harm reduction potential of Dark Net drug markets and their role in reducing the health risks, violence, and coercion associated with “street” drug transactions. User forums and chat rooms provide “a novel form of harm reduction for drug users and an entry point for drug support services” according to the report. More research is needed to substantiate the preliminary finding that “soft” drugs (cannabis, magic mushrooms, kratom, MDMA) rather than substances associated with chaotic lifestyles and dependency (heroin, methamphetamine) are the most frequently transacted. The report concludes that cyber enforcement should focus on high end crimes including child sexual exploitation, cyber terrorism, and arms trafficking and seek to build new alliances with “ethical” online drug communities that deplore these activities.