DR. Fernando Caudevilla Energy control (ABD) The importance of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) in online drug markets: data from Silk Road 2.0 DR. Fernando Caudevilla Energy control (ABD)

Original site was shut down by FBI in October 2013 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 https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/UlbrichtCriminalComplaint.pdf 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

WHAT IS THE IMPOrtance of nps in silk road?

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

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)

Material and methods “Classical drugs” NPS NPS stimulants: Synthetic cathinones: Mephedrone (4-MMC), 4-MEC… Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) Fluoro amphetamines: 4-FA, 2-FMA, 4-FMA… Benzofurans: 5-APB, 6-APB A-PVP (α-Pyrrolidinopentiophenone) Synthetic opioids: AH-7921 MT-45 Synthetic cannabinoids JWH, UR, CP, URB,THJ,AKB families NPS dissociatives Methoxetamine PCP derivatives NPS-ecstasy related: Bk-MDMA (methylone), bk-MBDB (butylone), bk-MDEA (ethylone) 5,6-Methylenedioxy-2-aminoindane (MDAI) Methiopropamine (MPA) NPS psychedelics: 2C- phenethylamine family (except 2C-B) Synthetic tryptamines: 4-ACO, 5-MEO families… Hallucinogenic amphetamines: DOB, DOI, DOC… 25-x-NBOMe family Cannabis (hashish, marijuana, oils, wax, extractions…) Classical psychedelics (LSD, Psilocybes, DMT, 2C-B, mescaline…) Classical stimulants ( cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine…) Opioids (heroin, opium, kratom) Ecstasy (MDMA, MDA) GHB Ketamine

RESULTS We obtained data from 15.836 products offered in Silk Road from Nov 13 to May 14 We analyzed data from 6653 illegal psychoactive drugs

RESULTS

A total of 195 different NPS compounds (1456 items) are offered SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS n NPS PSYCHEDELICS NPS STIMULANTS ECSTASY DISSOCIATIVES SYNTHETIC OPIOIDS 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 Ketamine derivatives 2 AH family HU family 8 DOx family Pyrovalerones CP family NBOMe family Benzofurans URB family 7 PB family AKB family 12 TOTAL 81 74 24

2) How many and what kind of drugs are purchased in Silk Road?

CLASSICAL DRUGS 13.474.353 EUR NPS 1.030.920 EUR

Proportion of drugs with cost above and below than 200 EUR 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%

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 2 88 ECSTASY 823 242 14 91 63 CANNABIS 978 730 32 44 13 66 OPIATES 83 51 20 CLASSICAL PSYCHEDELICS 450 246 10 45 84 KETAMINE 17 GHB 43 7 3 24 TOTAL CLASSICAL 2931 1507 80 312 18 347 SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS 152 NPS DISSOCIATIVES 12 23 22 NPS ECSTASY RELATED 39 108 NPS PSYCHEDELICS 167 155 29 136 NPS STIMULANTS 52 147 16 SYNTHETIC OPIOIDS TOTAL NPS 372 277 613 36 157

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

CLASSICAL 5197 647 12,44% NPS 1456 753 51,17% CLASSICAL 5197 590 TOTAL PRODUCTS OFFERED PRODUCTS WITH ZERO SALES % CLASSICAL 5197 647 12,44% NPS 1456 753 51,17% TOTAL PRODUCTS OFFERED PRODUCTS WITH MORE THAN 50 SALES % CLASSICAL 5197 590 11,35% NPS 1456 28 1,92%

1 SHROOMS 2 LSD 3 DMT 4 5 NBOME 10 6 7 100 8 9 11 12 13 50 14 15 Mescaline 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 2C-B 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 2C-I 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 2C.B 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 PSYCHEDELICS DOSAGES

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?

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.