Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34597861›Full record

ArticleThe International journal on drug policy2022

The success rate of online illicit drug transactions during a global pandemic.

Andréanne Bergeron, David Décary-Hétu, Luca Giommoni, Marie-Pier Villeneuve-Dubuc

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Article in The International journal on drug policy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Andréanne BergeronSchool of Criminology, Université de Montréal. 2900 Boul., Edouard-Montpetit, C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada, H3C 3J7. Electronic address: andreanne.bergeron.5@umontreal.ca.
David Décary-HétuSchool of Criminology, Université de Montréal. 2900 Boul., Edouard-Montpetit, C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada, H3C 3J7.
Luca GiommoniSchool of Social Sciences, Cardiff University. Cardiff CF10, 3AT, United Kingdom.
Marie-Pier Villeneuve-DubucSchool of Criminology, Université de Montréal. 2900 Boul., Edouard-Montpetit, C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada, H3C 3J7.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

aimsIn the months following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA; 2020) observed an increased use of cryptomarkets, which led them to question whether cryptomarkets constituted a more convenient channel via which to distribute illicit drugs without any in-person contact. However, as more countries' borders closed, the likelihood is that cryptomarkets have been negatively impacted. We aim to measure and understand the success rate of transactions on cryptomarkets during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, through recourse to self-reported data that documents the outcome of cryptomarket transactions.

methodsTo collect self-reported data on cryptomarket transactions, we launched a platform where participants can enter information about their prior activities on cryptomarkets. The sample consists of 591 valid self-reports that were received between January 1st, 2020 and August 21st, 2020.

resultsThe number of unsuccessful transactions increased concurrently with the global spread of the pandemic. Both the international and inter-continental nature of the transactions and the severity of the crisis in the vendor's country are significantly associated with delivery failure.

conclusionsDrug cryptomarkets may have been disrupted due to the pandemic. The results lead to two opposing explanations for unsuccessful transactions. One explanation for the lower success rate is the inability of drug dealers to deliver on past promises that were made in good faith, while the second points towards opportunistic and abusive behaviour by drug dealers.

Indexed as

COVID-19Drug TraffickingIllicit DrugsCommerceHumansPandemicsSARS-CoV-2Illicit DrugsCOVID-19CryptomarketDarkwebIllicit drug marketMarket disruption

Identifiers

PMID34597861
PMCPMC8500732

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.