

The shutdown of Silk Road, the online drug bazaar, by the United States Government brought a lot of attention to the black market that exists on the Dark Net. The Dark Net drug markets are a major source of many illegal substances and products, but the most well-known use for these markets is the sale and distribution of illegal or prescription drugs. These markets are seen by the many as another immoral or unsafe place where addicts will go to keep stocked but really this is a safe alternative to the traditional shady street corner type of drug dealing. Though it may seem odd to condone the sale of illicit drugs but this is not about their sale, this is about showing that online drug markets are a safer place that reduces the violence and death that is all too common in the unwinnable “War Against Drugs”. 

First, what is it that makes the physical drug market so dangerous? Part of the reason that the physical drug market is so dangerous is because the people that sell drugs on street corners and back alleys are criminals. Petty criminals that have based their entire life around crime. This leads to confrontation between the buyer and the seller. This confrontation leads to violence and sometimes to the death of one or both parties. Physical drug trafficking also has a problem with there being so many different drug traffickers and cartels lead to the creation of wars between these different sellers for territory and trade routes. This causes more death and violence. 


The online drug market, however is different, it is based around a similar structure as Ebay or Amazon.com. This means that there is not only sellers and buyers but there is also a third party, this is known as the Administrator or Admin for short, this Admin has access to all buyers and sellers on the site and is there to resolve problems between the sellers and buyers without the need for violence. The Admin also controls the ability for people to buy or sell on the site as well as their rating as a seller or as a buyer. Most of these sites also have a function which buyers can rate the sellers and their product in order to help newer or first time buyers from this seller to see whether or not it is a good idea to buy this product from this seller. This quote shows this difference between physical and online drug markets. 

“Looking at drug distribution practice on DNMs(Dark Net Markets), a first fundamental difference to conventional drug dealing is the presence of an additional party to seller and buyer, namely the administrator of a particular marketplace (and their employees).” (Tzanetakis, 2016).

The structure of dark net markets lead to another reason that it is safer to buy drugs online than it is for them to be bought on random street corners, for example, if the seller sends the buyer the wrong drug or a cheaper version of what the buyer actually paid for then the buyer has every right to give the seller a bad review or even to involve the Admin in order to resolve the issue or even to ban the seller from the site. If something like this had happened on a street corner than the one who sold the drugs could either have gone somewhere else or the issues would be resolved violently. (Tzanetakis, 2016)

The acceptance process for a seller to vend on the market makes it very hard for the seller to create multiple fake accounts in order to sell on the site and never deliver any product to the buyer, then create another persona and do the same thing over and over again. In order for the site to be considered a safe and legitimate source the admin as well as the vendors do their best to create an environment where the buyers feel as if the site is a trustworthy source for their needs. 

A common problem that many people have is that when people go online to purchase drugs there is no assurance that what they are purchasing is actually what they think they are purchasing, also another worry is that people that buy drugs on the internet are more likely to overdose on the drugs that they acquire. However this is not the case. Those who purchase drugs online also can research and find information about that which they are buying. This does not mean that they will not overdose it just means that if they do overdose it is for the same reason that anyone else would. Because they do not care or because they have become so accustomed to the drug that in order for them to get high is for them to take more and more until they overdose.

Though many people do not condone the use of drugs at all it is simply a part of life that people will try and escape their reality by taking drugs. This isn’t about whether or not the use of illicit drugs should or should not be prohibited it is simply about the fact that the online markets for drugs are a much safer and more responsible way for those who feel the need to take drugs to buy and to be sure that their purchase is legitimately what they expected. (Nielson)

A major problem that doctors hold against online drug markets is that people will buy drugs and then try them in many different combinations and then post their experiences with these combinations online. They believe this mixing of prescription or non-prescription drugs will be harmful for these users as well as their posting their experiences will lead others to seek similar experiences. Though this can be a problem a cursory google search by the buyer can fix most if not all of these problems. With all of the information that is available online it is quite easy to find out which drug combinations are less dangerous and which ones will lead to death.(Weiss) This however does not mean that there is any way to be completely safe as a illicit drug user this is ONLY about how the online markets are the safest source of illicit drugs and how they aid in reducing the number of drug crime related deaths.

Since drug users will always find a way to get their fix, online markets are not inherently bad. With online markets, street crime related to drugs and the dangers of a junkie with no money are not an issue. The online market turns the purchase of illegal drugs into a simple online transaction like we make every time we order something from amazon and the way these markets stay in business is because of good customer service due to the fact that vendors cannot continue to sell if they get to many bad ratings.

It is safer to purchase drugs from online vendors because the vendors themselves rely solely on their reputation that they have worked hard to create and nurture. This reputation comes in many forms, such as ratings of the vendor by their buyers or in comments from the buyers or from the Admin that insure the legitimacy of the vendors product and their ability to resolve problems with their buyers. These vendors know that one bad review or rating can destroy their hard-earned reputation and as such will usually try to resolve issues with their buyers without involving the Admin and resolve these issues in a way to where the buyer will ultimately give them a higher rating than the buyer would have originally given. This quote gives a better understanding of how these vendors work. 


“An initial effort of building trust and reputation on DNMs is the profile page of a vendor. It is a first source of information for a customer. On Agora market, it contains the user name of the vendor, an overall numerical satisfaction rating by customers (0–5), how many transactions have been completed by this vendor, when the vendor registered, when the trader last logged in and a verified indication if this vendor has been selling products on previous DNMs (the market administrator verifies a vendor after submitting evidence on previous vendor accounts and user feedback).” ( Tzanetakis, 2016)

Another problem that people tend to have with online markets is that people are worried about anonymity on the market. This is actually a valid point that must be addressed when talking about the problems that come from online drug markets. This problem is solved by using a TOR network, TOR also known as The Onion Router, is a system that works by bouncing your signal through many different countries and internet addresses in order to make it very difficult for someone to find the user. The TOR network is a very secure form of internet anonymity and many of the markets only exist within the TOR network. This allows for the Admin and the sellers to be anonymous as well on the site. 

Another common misconception about this TOR, also known as the Dark Net, is that people tend to think that spending time on the dark net increases your chances of being hacked, however this is not always the case, there are plenty of ways for people on the legitimate internet to hack other users in fact it is easier to be hacked on the normal internet than the dark net, for example the anonymity provided by the dark web makes it difficult for hackers to find the user for the same reason it makes the user anonymous, for example the internet address is hidden by routing your connection through many other addresses and the only way to find out who you are or where you are is to back track from every different address and hope that the address that you picked is the address of the person you are looking for. On the contrary on the normal internet, all that has to be done to find who you are is to identify the address you are using and then they can find information about who you are and can then begin hacking you in sincerity. TOR is one of the safest ways to access the internet as well as being the most anonymous. This is the most secure and safe way for those who use illicit drugs to safely source them and get good information about the drugs that they are purchasing.

As to the problem of not getting what you paid for, the incorporation of a ratings system for vendors as well as the ability for buyers to leave reviews and comments for others can lead to the knowledge that the vendor you are buying from is legitimately going to ship what it is that you paid them for to you. These vendors rely solely on their reputation in order to get new buyers and to get old buyers to return. As such these vendors will do whatever they need to so that issues that buyers have can be resolved without involving the Admin and without the buyer reporting this problem on a discussion board or giving the vendor a bad rating on the site. Vendors use this good customer service to get more buyers for their product.

These markets are the safest way for drug users to access and purchase these illicit materials. Through the use of a triangular chain of command between the buyer, the seller and the Admin, problems can be resolved without violence. The use of the TOR network allows for anonymity and protection of these users and sellers that is unavailable in a traditional drug market and though it is indeed dangerous to try drugs in different combinations, the use of a google search as well as all the other information online can help negate this risk of dying from an unknown drug cocktail. 
