Gerrit Kamphausen
VITA
Sociologist and criminologist at Frankfurt University.
Buying drugs on the „Darknet“ and the „Clearnet“ – Results on supply and demand in online drug markets from a German-Austrian research project
Since 2011, there are marketplaces for illicit drugs on the internet, particularly on the so-called darknet, often called “cryptomarkets”. Since then, there is a debate about significance and characteristics of such marketplaces, as well as on possible methods of repression against this trade. In the frame of a German-Austrian research consortium about drug dealing and organised crime, we researched the supply side using methods of online monitoring. A crucial result was the observation of a special German development regarding dealers who are active in the “Clearnet” (the common part of the internet, accessible via search engines). Additionally, we investigated the demand side with an online survey that featured almost 3,000 drug-experienced respondents, reporting on their modes of drug purchase, including buying online. These data provide a basis for a rough assessment of the extent of this mode of drug dealing. Additionally, some remarkable differences to „conventional“ drug purchases showed up in terms of trust, risks and measures of precaution.