1. 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)

15. 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
Busted but not broken. The state of Silk Road and the Darknet Marketplaces. Digital Citizens Alliance.

18. WHAT IS THE IMPOrtance of nps in silk road?

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)

21. 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

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

24. RESULTS

25. 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

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

27. CLASSICAL DRUGS
EUR
NPS
EUR

29. 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%

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 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

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 sales (23,41% total NPS sales). 4 of these vendors operated from China

32. 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%

34. 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

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.