Laura Orsolini1,2,3, Duccio Papanti1, John Corkery1, Fabrizio Schifano1. 1. Psychopharmacology, Drug Misuse and Novel Psychoactive Substances Research Unit, School of Life and Medical Sciences, College Lane Campus, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts, UK. 2. Villa San Giuseppe Hospital, Hermanas Hospitalarias, Ascoli Piceno, Italy. 3. Polyedra Research, Teramo, Italy.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Nowadays, the web is rapidly spreading, playing a significant role in the marketing or sale or distribution of "quasi" legal drugs, hence facilitating continuous changes in drug scenarios. The easily renewable and anarchic online drug-market is gradually transforming indeed the drug market itself, from a "street" to a "virtual" one, with customers being able to shop with a relative anonymity in a 24-hr marketplace. The hidden "deep web" is facilitating this phenomenon. The paper aims at providing an overview to mental health's and addiction's professionals on current knowledge about prodrug activities on the deep web. METHODS: A nonparticipant netnographic qualitative study of a list of prodrug websites (blogs, fora, and drug marketplaces) located into the surface web was here carried out. A systematic Internet search was conducted on Duckduckgo® and Google® whilst including the following keywords: "drugs" or "legal highs" or "Novel Psychoactive Substances" or "NPS" combined with the word deep web. RESULTS: Four themes (e.g., "How to access into the deepweb"; "Darknet and the online drug trading sites"; "Grams-search engine for the deep web"; and "Cryptocurrencies") and 14 categories were here generated and properly discussed. CONCLUSIONS: This paper represents a complete or systematical guideline about the deep web, specifically focusing on practical information on online drug marketplaces, useful for addiction's professionals.
OBJECTIVE: Nowadays, the web is rapidly spreading, playing a significant role in the marketing or sale or distribution of "quasi" legal drugs, hence facilitating continuous changes in drug scenarios. The easily renewable and anarchic online drug-market is gradually transforming indeed the drug market itself, from a "street" to a "virtual" one, with customers being able to shop with a relative anonymity in a 24-hr marketplace. The hidden "deep web" is facilitating this phenomenon. The paper aims at providing an overview to mental health's and addiction's professionals on current knowledge about prodrug activities on the deep web. METHODS: A nonparticipant netnographic qualitative study of a list of prodrug websites (blogs, fora, and drug marketplaces) located into the surface web was here carried out. A systematic Internet search was conducted on Duckduckgo® and Google® whilst including the following keywords: "drugs" or "legal highs" or "Novel Psychoactive Substances" or "NPS" combined with the word deep web. RESULTS: Four themes (e.g., "How to access into the deepweb"; "Darknet and the online drug trading sites"; "Grams-search engine for the deep web"; and "Cryptocurrencies") and 14 categories were here generated and properly discussed. CONCLUSIONS: This paper represents a complete or systematical guideline about the deep web, specifically focusing on practical information on online drug marketplaces, useful for addiction's professionals.
Authors: Sherry H Stewart; Annie Chinneck; Kara Thompson; Mohammad H Afzali; Raquel Nogueira-Arjona; Ioan T Mahu; Patricia J Conrod Journal: Front Psychiatry Date: 2021-04-27 Impact factor: 4.157
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