The impact of the Dark Web on drug trafficking

Although individual drug markets typically don’t last very long, the industry as a whole has overcome a number of obstacles such as law enforcement intrusions and exit scams. However, since the shutdown of Silk Road, transactions have tripled, and earnings have increased by half, despite the fact that the amount of the drug trade on Dark Web platforms is still quite tiny compared to offline trading. While decreasing many of the risks connected with offline markets (such as violence), the internet has provided chances for drug entrepreneurs to develop new business models and access a new user base while also introducing new risks (for example, postal interception and scams). The following screenshot presents the lifetimes of some specific marketplaces as well as the reasons behind their closures (Goldsmith, 2020):

Figure 3.5 – Lifetimes of specific Dark Web drug markets (Rusnac et al., 2020)

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