Drugs, internet, society Dr Monica Barratt 6th Annual ACT Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Sector Conference New and Emerging Technologies in ATOD Research, Policy, Practice and Participation Friday 21 June 2013 National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Parkes, Canberra
Overview • Significance of drugs, internet, society • Intersecting drugs and the internet • Two examples: 1. Emerging psychoactive substances 2. Online drug marketplaces Barratt, M. J., & Lenton, S. (2013). Drugs and the internet. In A. Ritter, T. King & M. Hamilton (Eds.), Drug use in Australian society (pp. 272- 293). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
National Drug Strategy 2010 ‘The internet poses both challenges and opportunities for the National Drug Strategy. It is an efficient channel for information on illegal drug manufacture and use, and a difficult to regulate advertising medium for alcohol and tobacco. However, it also provides opportunities for providing information, and potentially treatment, to audiences who may not be reached through other media.’
Drugs <- -> Internet 1. How are drug practices shaped by internet technologies? Challenges and opportunities – 2. How are our responses to drug problems shaped by internet technologies? Challenges and opportunities –
How are drug practices shaped by internet technologies? • Challenges: – Sale of drugs through websites – Increased access to information about manufacture – Increased access to ‘positive’ / promotional stories – Difficulties verifying drug information • Opportunities – Expertise on drugs more easily accessed and shared – Supports alternative spaces and identities – Fuller information on vendors and products sold
How are our responses to drug problems shaped by internet technologies? • Opportunities: – Increased access to hard-to-reach populations – Delivery of effective treatment/intervention – Monitoring of new drug trends – Enhanced information sharing within sector • Challenges – Online interventions not suited to all populations – Cultural and technical competence required – Pace at which technologies evolve
Two examples • How are drug practices shaped by internet technologies? – Emerging psychoactive substances – Online drug marketplaces
Internet & emerging drugs • Diffusion – Accelerated news transmission – Alternative discourses in user-generated content • Sales – Web-based stores but also through social media ‘The advent of the Internet accelerated and inflated the mephedrone scare, but also that online media allowed [web] user-generated information transmission, rather than simple dissemination by news media to audience, fostering competing discourses to stock drug scare themes as they emerged.’ (Forsyth, 2012)
Month/year of first ‘synthetic cannabis’ use N = 183 Australians who had used synthetic cannabis at least once. Surveyed Dec 2011 – Jan 2012. Study described in Barratt et al. 2013
‘Synthetic cannabis’ in Australia Bright et al. 2013
N = 290 Australians who had used synthetic cannabis at least once. Surveyed Dec 2011 – Jan 2012. Study described in Barratt et al. 2013
Summary • Sales online play a minor role • Diffusion of information through social networks, on and offline • Mutual feedback between public interest, news media interest & prevalence of use as the uptake of a new drug occurs
Policy responses • Banning individual chemicals • Banning broad chemical categories • More expansive analogue definitions • Use of Consumer Trading laws to ban brand names rather than chemical substances – If successful at removing one new substance, another one arises to replace it. But which is the least harmful? What are these responses attempting to achieve?
Total drug listings: 485 in June 2011, 880 in Nov 2011, 1,159 in Mar 2012, 6,411 in Mar 2013, 10,000+ in April!
Silk Road – what is it? • The Silk Road is an online drug marketplace, similar to eBay, with drug listings, vendor ratings, sales, a discussion forum. • Accessed via Tor, through the hidden web, and drugs are bought using Bitcoins, an encrypted virtual currency. • Tor & Bitcoin, used correctly, make transactions basically untraceable. • Drugs delivered through postal system in stealth packaging. • Normally, funds are only released to vendors when buyers receive their goods and are satisfied with them. • Other online drug marketplaces: e.g. Atlantis
GDS Australian findings on SR Source: Barratt & Winstock, in prep. • SR users were mostly male, aged 20s to mid-30s, mostly employed, well-educated (n = 199). • Most commonly-bought drugs were MDMA powder and pills, cannabis, LSD, Cocaine, Amphetamine, 2C and NBOMe drugs – mainly ‘known’ drugs. • SR users were attracted by the wider range, better quality, greater convenience, vendor rating system and lower prices of Silk Road. • Most non-SR-users stated they already had adequate access to drugs, although half were deterred by fear of being caught by police or customs. One quarter just 'hadn't gotten around to it'.
Internet & anonymous markets • Hidden internet operates as: – A tool: Operates like eBay ‘buy it now’ – A place: Community of like-minded people • Silk Road enables – Information transmission – Access to drug market participants – Sophisticated information on reputations – Reduced risks of physical violence… rip-offs? • Reasons for use = general online shopping
Policy responses • Regulate overseas internet content – It is not possible to ban hidden internet sites • Ban Tor and Bitcoin – Tor and Bitcoin are peer-to-peer technologies • Increase scanning of posted letters/packages – Costly, may slow postal system, harming business – Profiling SR packaging has had some success • Infiltration of Silk Road by law enforcement – Costly, involves selling drugs… may disrupt market – LE can disrupt vendor trust systems
Conclusions • Digital connectivity is ‘here to stay’: – we must learn to live with its challenges and embrace its opportunities • Policy responses that rely on restricting information or access to products are less effective within internet-saturated societies • Digital connectivity is a direct challenge to prohibition itself: – it may necessitate alternative policy responses
References Barratt, M. J., Cakic, V., & Lenton, S. (2013). Patterns of synthetic cannabinoid use in Australia. Drug and Alcohol Review, 32 , 141-146. Barratt, M. J., & Lenton, S. (2013). Drugs and the internet. In A. Ritter, T. King & M. Hamilton (Eds.), Drug use in Australian society (pp. 272-293). Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Barratt, M. J., & Winstock, A. R. (in preparation). Use of Silk Road, the online drug marketplace, in the UK, Australia and the USA. Bright, S. J., Bishop, B., Kane, R., Marsh, A., & Barratt, M. J. (2013). Kronic hysteria: Exploring the intersection between Australian synthetic cannabis legislation, the media, and drug-related harm. International Journal of Drug Policy, 24 , 231–237. Forsyth, A. J. M. (2012). Virtually a drug scare: Mephedrone and the impact of the Internet on drug news transmission. International Journal of Drug Policy, 23 , 198- 209. Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy. (2011). The National Drug Strategy 2010–2015. A framework for action on alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs . Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Acknowledgements • All participants and communities involved in my research • My colleagues and co-authors, especially Simon Lenton and Steve Bright • Australian Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, who fund my position at NDRI • ATODA for inviting me to present today For further discussion, contact me: m.barratt@curtin.edu.au twitter: @monicabarratt
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