Presentation by Andreas Schleicher Tackling the School Absenteeism Crisis 30 ...
The importance of new psychoactive
1. THE IMPORTANCE OF NEW PSYCHOACTIVE
SUBSTANCES (NPS) IN ONLINE DRUG MARKETS:
DATA FROM SILK ROAD 2.0
DR. FERNANDO CAUDEVILLA
ENERGY CONTROL (ABD)
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15. • The original Silk Road Marketplace operated between January 2011 and October 2013
• Original site was shut down by FBI in October 2013
• According to FBI, the site generated revenue sales over 9.5 million BTC (3.000 million EUR) (1)
• Actually, there are 21 active operative on-line drug markets using SR system (2)
• Silk Road re-opened in 21 November 2013 and it is still the most popular market
(1) https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/UlbrichtCriminalComplaint.pdf
(2) Busted but not broken. The state of Silk Road and the Darknet Marketplaces. Digital Citizens Alliance.
https://media.gractions.com/314A5A5A9ABBBBC5E3BD824CF47C46EF4B9D3A76/5f8d4168-c36a-4f78-b048-f5d48b18dc0a.pdf
19. OBJECTIVE
• To obtain data about NPS in Silk Road Marketplace
• Type of substances offered
• Country of origin (sources of the merchandise)
• Estimated volume of sales and demand
• Comparision with traditional drugs
20. MATERIAL AND METHODS
• Data from all the products offered and sales in Silk Road Marketplace 2.0 were collected from Nov.13 to May 13 (1)
• Kind of product
• Name of the vendor
• Country of delivery
• Number of sales
• Price
• Feedback from user
• Analysis was limited to data from psychoactive, illegal drugs
• Legal drugs (alcohol, tobacco), prescription drugs, and other products (art, jewels…) and services (money laundering,
fake credit cards…) were excluded from analysis
(1) “Silk Road statistics” On-line document. Available in: twam2dcppennla6s.onion (Access 10/5/14)
25. SYNTHETIC
CANNABINOIDS
n NPS
PSYCHEDELICS
n NPS
STIMULANTS
n NPS
ECSTASY
n NPS
DISSOCIATIVES
n SYNTHETIC OPIOIDS n
JWH family 42 Tryptamine
derivatives
39 Cathinone
derivatives
6 Beta-
ketones
3 PCP derivatives 4 MT family 1
AM family 11 2C- family 17 Amphetamine
derivatives
5 Other 4 Ketamine
derivatives
2 AH family 1
HU family 8 DOx family 5 Pyrovalerones 3 Other 1
CP family 5 NBOMe family 2 Benzofurans 3
URB family 4 Other 11 Other 7
PB family 3
AKB family 6
MT family 2
Other 12
TOTAL 81 TOTAL 74 TOTAL 24 TOTAL 7 TOTAL 7 TOTAL 2
• A total of 195 different NPS compounds (1456 items) are offered
26. 2) How many and what kind of drugs are purchased in Silk Road?
29. CLASSICAL DRUGS
N < 200 EUR >200 EUR
STIMULANTS 922 61,4% 38,6%
CANNABIS 1864 79,8% 20,2%
PSYCHEDELICS 836 81,7% 18,3%
ECSTASY 1234 69,5% 30,5%
OPIOIDS 159 85,7% 14,3%
NPS
N <200 EUR >200 EUR
STIMULANTS 313 34,6% 65,4%
CANNABINOIDS 235 14,6% 85,4%
PSYCHEDELICS 654 21,1% 78,9%
ECSTASY RELATED 173 57,1% 42,9%
OPIOIDS 20 5% 95%
Proportion of drugs with cost above and below than 200 EUR
30. NUMBER OF DRUGS CLASSIFIED BY GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGIN (AS REPORTED BY VENDORS)
Etiquetas de fila EUROPE NORTH AMERICA ASIA AUSTRALIA AND NZ AFRICA SOUTH AMERICA UNDECLARED
CLASSICAL
STIMULANTS 488 211 5 122 5 2 88
ECSTASY 823 242 14 91 0 0 63
CANNABIS 978 730 32 44 13 0 66
OPIATES 83 51 2 2 0 0 20
CLASSICAL
PSYCHEDELICS 450 246 10 45 0 0 84
KETAMINE 66 20 17 5 0 0 2
GHB 43 7 0 3 0 0 24
TOTAL CLASSICAL 2931 1507 80 312 18 2 347
SYNTHETIC
CANNABINOIDS 63 20 152 0 0 0 0
NPS DISSOCIATIVES 12 23 22 0 0 0 3
NPS ECSTASY RELATED 39 24 108 0 0 0 2
NPS PSYCHEDELICS 167 155 167 29 0 0 136
NPS STIMULANTS 91 52 147 7 2 0 16
SYNTHETIC OPIOIDS 0 3 17 0 0 0
TOTAL NPS 372 277 613 36 2 0 157
31. • There were 523 vendors registered in Silk Road during the period studied.
• 120 vendors (22,9% ) offered some NPS for sale
• 5 vendors (1%) offered a total of 561 different products (35% of the whole NPS), made a total of 1559
sales (23,41% total NPS sales). 4 of these vendors operated from China
35. DISCUSSION
• On-line drug markets are an emergent tendency that must be followed and monitored
• Internet and on-line markets can provide valuable information about NPS
• It is possible to detect very limited phenomena
• In “free market conditions” drug users choose preferently “classic drugs” than NPS
• Limitations:
• Are data reliable?
• Are data extrapolable to other on-line markets?
• Do NPS users buy drugs in on-line markets?
• Can NPS be used as adulterants to classical drugs?
36. CONCLUSIONS
• NPS are present in Silk Road
• There is a wide offer of NPS available to users, but, in general, they prefer classical drugs.
• Methoxetamine and 25-x-NBOMe seem the most popular substances in their cathegories. Importance
of synthetic cannabinoids seem limited.
• Some NPS are being sold in great amounts, possibly indicating drug traffic instead of personal use
• It is important to pay attention to online drug markets, as emergent tendencies.