As with pretty much everything else, the impact the internet has had on the narcotic trade over the past decade is significant, but it’s what comes next that’s really interesting.
Illustration by Rob Pybus
When recreational drugs first became popular in the 1960s and 1970s, they were enjoyed mostly by the well-off. Champagne parties were nothing without a bowl of cocaine on the table, the hectic lifestyles of rock stars were often powered by speed pills, and cannabis was something that intellectual, bohemian types smoked to open their minds. Fast forward half a century and we have a drugs war that’s out of control, clandestine chemistry labs dotted around the world, new legal highs popping up regularly, an addiction epidemic and a thriving online drugs bazaar worth $1.2 billion over just two years.
Times have indeed changed. Drug networks used to be founded upon a mix of cartel business ethics, ruthless gang violence and corrupt police. Now these have been replaced with an internet connection, vacuum packing and decentralised electronic currencies. While it’s true that advances in technology have given rise to many drug-dealing operations, they’ve also opened the floodgates to a new generation of tech-savvy drug barons.
The most significant technological advances to revolutionise the drugs underworld, though, are not moisture barrier bags, the Los Zetas cartel’s radio system, or even narco-submarines, but something much more mainstream – the internet. With the rise of the web, the drugs marketplace has been able to spread its reach as never before. Legal highs, for example, would undoubtedly still be an underground alternative for seasoned drug users if it wasn’t for the internet.
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