How accurate are drug cryptomarket listings by content, weight, purity and repeat purchase?

Purpose: Drug cryptomarkets increase information available to market actors, which should reduce information asymmetry and increase market efficiency. This study aims to determine whether cryptomarket listings accurately represent the advertised substance, weight or number and purity, and whether there are differences in products purchased from the same listing multiple times. Design/methodology/approach: Law enforcement drug purchases – predominantly cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA and heroin – from Australian cryptomarket vendors (n = 38 in 2016/2017) were chemically analysed and matched with cryptomarket listings (n = 23). Descriptive and comparative analyses were conducted. Findings: Almost all samples contained the advertised substance. In most of these cases, drugs were either supplied as-advertised-weight or number, or overweight or number. All listings that quantified purity overestimated the actual purity. There was no consistent relationship between advertised purity terms and actual purity. Across the six listings purchased from multiple times, repeat purchases from the same listing varied in purity, sometimes drastically, with wide variation detected on listings purchased from only one month apart. Research limitations/implications: In this data set, cryptomarket listings were mostly accurate, but the system was far from perfect, with purity overestimated. A newer, larger, globally representative sample should be obtained to test the applicability of these findings to currently operating cryptomarkets. Originality/value: This paper reports on the largest data set of forensic analysis of drug samples obtained from cryptomarkets, where data about advertised drug strength/dose were obtained

Marijuana Cultivation in British Columbia: Using spatial and social network analysis techniques to inform evidence-based policy and planning

This dissertation provides evidence and direction for policy makers dealing with the issue of marijuana production in British Columbia (BC). This document provides a descriptive analysis of the "grow op" industry before moving into a spatial analysis of the effect of police tactical teams (green teams) on grow operations. The final chapters focus on the involvement of organized crime in the marijuana production industry and employ a social network analysis (SNA) framework to illustrate the involvement of different clusters of criminal associations. Using the case of Vietnamese drug p roduction as an example, SNA and geographic information systems (GIS) analyses techniques are combined to assess the spatial and social linkage patterns in statistical and visual terms. The descriptive analysis of police records shows that marijuana "grow ops" increased dramatically from 1997 through 2000, before levelling out by the end of the collection period in 2003. A significant increase in the number of suspects of Vietnamese origin was also noted. The police hypothesize that Vietnamese criminal organizations have effectively taken over the production of marijuana in certain jurisdictions and that they work with other criminal organizations (i.e. Hells Angels and Southeast Asian Groups) to distribute the drugs. The results suggest that those areas with specialized anti-grow (or "green") teams show a significant decrease in grow operations in their jurisdiction. Compared to the rate of increase in the period preceding green team implementation, the treatment jurisdict ions experienced an 82% decline in marijuana cultivation facil ities. Neighboring control areas experienced a 7% increase in grow operations post-treatment. The network analysis of drug production networks illustrates that the criminal networks involved in drug production are spatially constrained. It also shows that the distance between individuals in the drug production criminal network and their associates varies systematically with network characteristics (centrality measures) but not with demographics or criminal history variables. Of particular importance to police investigation into criminal organizations is the finding that central figures in the network, individuals high in betweenness, degree and closeness centrality, travel farther to associates and place themselves on the geographic periphery of the network habitat

A spatial analysis of green teams: a tactical response to marijuana production in British Columbia

Over a period of 4 years (1997–2000), British Columbia (BC) experienced tremendous growth in the illicit production and distribution of domestically grown marijuana. By the close of 2000, each policing jurisdiction in BC had adopted a particular policy in response to grow operation proliferation. In summary, four policy responses were noted. First, some maintained the status quo wherein enforcement of police initiated investigations and citizens’ tips continued, but with no additional resources specifically dedicated to grow operations. Second, some jurisdictions suspended the majority of investigation and enforcement of grow operations. Third, some agencies implemented or reinforced existing resource intensive drug squads, which focused on trafficking, sales and production of all types of drugs. Finally, some of the jurisdictions formed specialized tactical units known as “green teamsâ€\x9D that focused solely on the enforcement of marijuana production. In this paper, we evaluate the effectiveness of green teams using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and difference-in-difference estimates. The results indicate that green teams decrease grow operations within their target area without significant displacement to surrounding areas. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLP 2006Displacement, Criminal justice policy, Police crackdown, GIS, Policing, Marijuana, Policy evaluation,

The challenges and benefits of analyzing feedback comments in surveys: lessons from a cross-national online survey of small-scale cannabis growers.

It is common practice in survey questionnaires to include a general open and non-directive feedback question at the end, but the analysis of this type of data is rarely discussed in the methodological literature. While these open-ended comments can be useful, most researchers fail to report on this issue. The aim of this article is to illustrate and reflect upon the benefits and challenges of analyzing responses to open-ended feedback questions. The article describes the experiences of coding and analyzing data generated through a feedback question at the end of an international online survey with small-scale cannabis cultivators carried out by the Global Cannabis Cultivation Research Consortium. After describing the design and dataset of the web survey, the analytical approach and coding frame are presented. The analytical strategies chosen in this study illustrate the diversity and complexity of feedback comments which pose methodological challenges to researchers wishing to use them for data analyses. In this article, three types of feedback comments (political/policy comments, general comments of positive and negative appreciation, and methodological comments) are used to illustrate the difficulties and advantages of analyzing this type of data. The advantages of analyzing feedback comments are well known, but they seem to be rarely exploited. General feedback questions at the end of surveys are typically non-directive. If researchers want to use these data for research and analyses, they need a clear strategy. They ought to give enough thought to why they are including this type of question, and develop an analytical strategy at the design stage of the study

Drug supply networks: a systematic review of the organizational structure of illicit drug trade.

This study presents a systematic review of research using social network analysis to document the structure of organized crime groups involved in drug trafficking. Our first objective is to determine whether the balance of evidence supports the argument that organized crime groups are loosely structured. Second, we aim to assess the relative importance of targeting individuals high in social capital (structural position) versus human capital (access to resources) in efforts to disrupt operations. Examining 34 studies, describing 54 illicit drug supply networks, we find five implications for anti-drug policy, and propose seven recommendations to facilitate meta-analysis and improve cross-network comparison

Law enforcement and disruption of offline and online activities : a review of comptemporary challenges

The digital world represents a new frontier for law enforcement operations. The virtual nature of online communications creates challenges regarding legal frameworks and sovereignty that are exacerbated by the inherent context of the digital world, the current state of policing expertise and resources and the detection and reporting rates of cybercrimes. This book chapter presents an informed review of the current state of ‘what works’ in policing both offline and online, providing at each step the context needed to understand how new technologies impact police operations. Our conclusion suggests that new models of policing are indeed needed to effectively police the digital world and that cooperation through nodal governance could improve the ability of police agencies to regulate cyberoffenders

How accurate are drug cryptomarket listings by content, weight, purity and repeat purchase?

Purpose: Drug cryptomarkets increase information available to market actors, which should reduce information asymmetry and increase market efficiency. This study aims to determine whether cryptomarket listings accurately represent the advertised substance, weight or number and purity, and whether there are differences in products purchased from the same listing multiple times. Design/methodology/approach: Law enforcement drug purchases – predominantly cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA and heroin – from Australian cryptomarket vendors (n = 38 in 2016/2017) were chemically analysed and matched with cryptomarket listings (n = 23). Descriptive and comparative analyses were conducted. Findings: Almost all samples contained the advertised substance. In most of these cases, drugs were either supplied as-advertised-weight or number, or overweight or number. All listings that quantified purity overestimated the actual purity. There was no consistent relationship between advertised purity terms and actual purity. Across the six listings purchased from multiple times, repeat purchases from the same listing varied in purity, sometimes drastically, with wide variation detected on listings purchased from only one month apart. Research limitations/implications: In this data set, cryptomarket listings were mostly accurate, but the system was far from perfect, with purity overestimated. A newer, larger, globally representative sample should be obtained to test the applicability of these findings to currently operating cryptomarkets. Originality/value: This paper reports on the largest data set of forensic analysis of drug samples obtained from cryptomarkets, where data about advertised drug strength/dose were obtained.</p