UK-based drug dealers earn more money online than any of their European rivals, research suggests.
In January, British dealers made $2.2m (£1.7m) in web sales, with a 16% share of the global online drugs market.
However, US dealers had a 36% share of the online market and took home $5m (£3.8m).
Commissioned by the Netherlands government, research company
Rand Europe trawled the eight largest drug marketplaces on the dark web.
These
online shopping sites can be accessed only using a specialised web
browser, and do not show up in mainstream search engine results.
Rand
Europe found the number of drug deals taking place on the dark web had
tripled since 2013, when police in the US closed Silk Road - one of the
first online drugs marketplaces.
Biggest earners
Online drug market share in January
- United States - 35.9%
- United Kingdom - 16.1%
- Australia - 10.6%
- Germany - 8.4%
- Netherlands - 7.8%
Source: Rand Europe
Online
deals still represent a small portion of the overall drugs trade, which
Rand says is estimated to be worth £1.7bn a month in Europe.
Rand acknowledged that it faced difficulties collecting some of its data, due to the secretive nature of the online drug trade.
However,
it suggested that a majority of deals were between buyers and sellers
on the same continent, which it attributed to the popularity of locally
grown cannabis.
Cannabis was the most popular item on the underground websites, accounting for a third of transactions.
Purchases of prescription-only medicines accounted for a further 19%.
Most popular drugs
Bought on the dark web in January
- Cannabis - 33%
- Prescription medication - 19%
- Stimulants - 18%
- Ecstasy-type drugs - 12%
- Psychedelics - 11%
Source: Rand Europe
The
researchers noted that online transactions were dominated by "drugs
typically associated with recreational or 'party' use" - such as
cannabis and ecstasy.
Offline, heroin is thought to account for 28% of the total European drugs retail market.
Rand
said: "A possible explanation for these differences between online and
offline markets may be that crypto-market purchases typically require an
element of planning, which may not suit the daily use of dependent
users of, for instance, heroin."
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