poledriver
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
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High-speed connection: technology and drugs in London
With internet dealing on the rise and legal highs booming, Rebecca Taylor investigates the impact of new technology on drug use in London.
I’ve been trying to buy drugs online for the last 15 minutes and I’m feeling like I need a PhD in chemistry to know what I’m potentially checking-out with.
<link removed> is offering me amphetamine-like substances 5-IAI and MDA1, as well as ‘Liquid Gold Room Odourisor’, which reviews suggest has little to do with banishing bad smells;
<link removed> is offering 6-APB with a discount; and if you missed the January sales, <link removed> has ‘10 percent off NRG-2’ tablets.
Many sites offer next-day delivery, some ‘free postage for orders over £50’. If you want to get high in London in 2013 the easiest way to do it is with an internet connection and a credit card.
‘Online dealing is something that has had a huge influence on the way in which drugs are being bought and sold,’ says Elliot Elam from Addaction, a charity which offers support services for drug users across the capital.
‘It has made a huge impact on London’s drug landscape.’ Users agree. ‘I had my batch of GBL delivered as a parcel straight to my door,’ says Carmel, 26. ‘It was packaged as “alloy wheel cleaner”.’
GBL is a depressant which contains paint stripper-type chemicals and can leave you feeling chilled-out and horny – or drowsy, vomiting and in a coma.
Carmel, from Brixton, became addicted to it when she was 19, after being offered some at a party. ‘It’s too easy to get,’ she says.
‘You don’t have to run around ringing people to find some, and that makes it harder not to do it.’
According to Global Drug Survey’s independent research, 21 percent of Londoners have bought drugs from a website. And not all of them sell ‘legal’ highs.
One of the most successful, Silk Road, is a digital black market that resembles something from ‘The Matrix’.
Using sophisticated identity obscuring technology, Silk Road (set up by a man known as Dread Pirate Roberts, thought to be based in the USA) makes buying and selling drugs easy.
Imagine Amazon stocked with mind-bending stimulants instead of CDs and casserole dishes. And yes, you can also post ‘user’ reviews.
On Silk Road, purchases are mostly illegal but untraceable, thanks to the use of Bitcoins, a virtual online currency.
Recently, we found 10g of Moroccan hash selling for <price removed> Bitcoins – at the going exchange rate of one Bitcoin to £8, that’s a pricy <price removed>. ‘I’ve used Silk Road a couple of times,’ says Jamie, 24, from Essex.
‘Bitcoins are a hassle but the quality is higher and you can obtain rarer drugs from a variety of sources. It’s the future of buying drugs.’
The online drugs market has grown steadily since 2009, and has coincided with the boom in ‘legal highs’, which mimic the effects of illegal drugs and are often sold as ‘bath salts’ or ‘plant food’.
Three years ago, 314 EU-based online sites offered legal highs. By 2011 that had risen to 690, with the biggest growth in sites operating from the UK.
The charity Drugscope estimates this global market to be worth over £10 million annually.
Some of these substances are herbal extracts, such as salvia (a Mexican plant with hallucinogenic leaves); others are ‘designer drugs’ – chemical variations of illegal substances.
Mephedrone, or meow meow, which mimics the effects of cocaine, became the most notorious of these before it was banned in 2010.
This ever-evolving culture has already generated a new type of drug user: the internet psychonaut.
These are the human guinea pigs who have made it their mission to try out new substances and experiment with established drugs in order to blog or, increasingly, tweet, about their experiences.
Some are chemistry students, or pharmaceutical professionals; others are thrill seekers; some regard this research as a part of a wider interest in alternative culture and technology.
http://now-here-this.timeout.com/2013/02/24/high-speed-connection-technology-and-drugs-in-london/
cont-
mods - I can see this might be a border line article, if it's not ok for BL, then remove the article link and close it.
With internet dealing on the rise and legal highs booming, Rebecca Taylor investigates the impact of new technology on drug use in London.
I’ve been trying to buy drugs online for the last 15 minutes and I’m feeling like I need a PhD in chemistry to know what I’m potentially checking-out with.
<link removed> is offering me amphetamine-like substances 5-IAI and MDA1, as well as ‘Liquid Gold Room Odourisor’, which reviews suggest has little to do with banishing bad smells;
<link removed> is offering 6-APB with a discount; and if you missed the January sales, <link removed> has ‘10 percent off NRG-2’ tablets.
Many sites offer next-day delivery, some ‘free postage for orders over £50’. If you want to get high in London in 2013 the easiest way to do it is with an internet connection and a credit card.
‘Online dealing is something that has had a huge influence on the way in which drugs are being bought and sold,’ says Elliot Elam from Addaction, a charity which offers support services for drug users across the capital.
‘It has made a huge impact on London’s drug landscape.’ Users agree. ‘I had my batch of GBL delivered as a parcel straight to my door,’ says Carmel, 26. ‘It was packaged as “alloy wheel cleaner”.’
GBL is a depressant which contains paint stripper-type chemicals and can leave you feeling chilled-out and horny – or drowsy, vomiting and in a coma.
Carmel, from Brixton, became addicted to it when she was 19, after being offered some at a party. ‘It’s too easy to get,’ she says.
‘You don’t have to run around ringing people to find some, and that makes it harder not to do it.’
According to Global Drug Survey’s independent research, 21 percent of Londoners have bought drugs from a website. And not all of them sell ‘legal’ highs.
One of the most successful, Silk Road, is a digital black market that resembles something from ‘The Matrix’.
Using sophisticated identity obscuring technology, Silk Road (set up by a man known as Dread Pirate Roberts, thought to be based in the USA) makes buying and selling drugs easy.
Imagine Amazon stocked with mind-bending stimulants instead of CDs and casserole dishes. And yes, you can also post ‘user’ reviews.
On Silk Road, purchases are mostly illegal but untraceable, thanks to the use of Bitcoins, a virtual online currency.
Recently, we found 10g of Moroccan hash selling for <price removed> Bitcoins – at the going exchange rate of one Bitcoin to £8, that’s a pricy <price removed>. ‘I’ve used Silk Road a couple of times,’ says Jamie, 24, from Essex.
‘Bitcoins are a hassle but the quality is higher and you can obtain rarer drugs from a variety of sources. It’s the future of buying drugs.’
The online drugs market has grown steadily since 2009, and has coincided with the boom in ‘legal highs’, which mimic the effects of illegal drugs and are often sold as ‘bath salts’ or ‘plant food’.
Three years ago, 314 EU-based online sites offered legal highs. By 2011 that had risen to 690, with the biggest growth in sites operating from the UK.
The charity Drugscope estimates this global market to be worth over £10 million annually.
Some of these substances are herbal extracts, such as salvia (a Mexican plant with hallucinogenic leaves); others are ‘designer drugs’ – chemical variations of illegal substances.
Mephedrone, or meow meow, which mimics the effects of cocaine, became the most notorious of these before it was banned in 2010.
This ever-evolving culture has already generated a new type of drug user: the internet psychonaut.
These are the human guinea pigs who have made it their mission to try out new substances and experiment with established drugs in order to blog or, increasingly, tweet, about their experiences.
Some are chemistry students, or pharmaceutical professionals; others are thrill seekers; some regard this research as a part of a wider interest in alternative culture and technology.
http://now-here-this.timeout.com/2013/02/24/high-speed-connection-technology-and-drugs-in-london/
cont-
mods - I can see this might be a border line article, if it's not ok for BL, then remove the article link and close it.
Last edited:
