A slap to the FBI. Online drug sales triple after Silk Road closure

[Mikestang]

Making something illegal has never once stopped people from producing or acquiring it, never ever never.  Prohibition is a failed methodology.

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[Hueylewis]

free Ross Ulbricht !!

[designerusa]

We all know that Ross Ulbricht was made an example of and was given a sentence so hard that they thought it will discourage others from following the footsteps of DPR. They were wrong.

NBC news has reported that online drug sales have tripled since the closure of the Silk Road. http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/online-drug-sales-triple-after-silk-road-closure-n627576

This is a link to the study that was made about it. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1600/RR1607/RAND_RR1607.pdf

This could be a silent victory for all the supporters of DPR and deep inside they are laughing at the authorities. I know I am.

as everyone see, drug trade cant be easy with silk road or bitcoin . if somebody needs to buy some drugs , he or she can reach them with another resources. no matter what condition they are in, they can buy drugs if they want to make it happen.

[TippingPoint]

It might possibly be better for people to buy drugs from home, over the internet, than having people go to street corners, in bad neighborhoods, after dark, to buy drugs.

[Kprawn]

Silkroad and all the publicity it received only increased the awareness of the existence of these sites. Previously people would not even have considered buying drugs online, because these sites were

targeted and most of them were honey traps. Now with the decentralization of these markets, the sites stays online much longer and they flourish in these circumstances. The take down of Silkroad was

just a Band-Aid on a open wound. 

[Cryptonitex]

So, if they shut down silk road, and sales rose up 3x
what are people buying these drugs from now? Is there something more popular than silk road now?

[TippingPoint]

According to the 200-page RAND report in the first post, the process involves using TOR, and finding the deepnet address of a site like AlphaBay (they list several in the report).  You cannot get to the sites from the open net.

I don't take any drugs.

[QuestionAuthority]

Here's the sad truth for Ulbrich and all people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes. The US has no retroactive clemency, amnesty laws automatically releasing prisoners when the law changes. Presidential or gubernatorial commutations are a PR no-no and almost never done. Even if all drugs af any kind were instantly made legal the previously convicted would remain in the custody of the profit monger the Corrections Corporation of America.

[richardsNY]

Making something illegal has never once stopped people from producing or acquiring it, never ever never.  Prohibition is a failed methodology.

Prohibition of something doesn't work, that's right. Especially when it comes to a product (drugs) that sees it demand increasing and increasing. Beside that, it's normal that the sales in this part of the market is going through the roof. Dealers from the streets more and more start to shift their business to these so called black markets. Where they normally only sell their stuff in their local area, they can now target a world wide audience.

[Wind_FURY]

I don't think it is the FBIs fault by closing down Silk Road. If they had left it open, Silk Road would be three times bigger (or more) by now and drug sales would still have trippled.

The only thing now is that there are numerous places where people go to buy rather than one, which makes it more difficult to keep an eye on.

All business is shifting online. You order your electronics and even groceries online now. Those numbers probably also trippled in the same time. Would anyone really expect the drug trade not to follow a similar trend? In a few years every post office might have drug dogs to pick the packets out..

That is not the point. The point is in over 50 years of their "war on drugs" the illegal drugs industry keeps getting bigger and bigger. The cartels are getting richer and are increasing in political influence. What they are doing is not effective and they are only wasting tax payer's money. What good did getting Ulbricht in prison bring? Nothing.

[MyBTT]

You cut off the head, two more grow back. When the big dog goes down, all the small ones try to get the alpha spot. We see that happening right now.

[Yakamoto]

Making something illegal has never once stopped people from producing or acquiring it, never ever never.  Prohibition is a failed methodology.

Prohibition of something doesn't work, that's right. Especially when it comes to a product (drugs) that sees it demand increasing and increasing. Beside that, it's normal that the sales in this part of the market is going through the roof. Dealers from the streets more and more start to shift their business to these so called black markets. Where they normally only sell their stuff in their local area, they can now target a world wide audience.

It's true, it does end up moving dealers from small "home-grown businesses" into an international market where they grow rapidly. Stopping the war on drugs on the streets can go and move it in a direction towards more digitized and clandestine markets, which allows for it to grow rapidly and grow far bigger than it would in an average system. It's something working directly against those who want to mitigate the amount of drugs available.

[Kakmakr]

Here's the sad truth for Ulbrich and all people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes. The US has no retroactive clemency, amnesty laws automatically releasing prisoners when the law changes. Presidential or gubernatorial commutations are a PR no-no and almost never done. Even if all drugs af any kind were instantly made legal the previously convicted would remain in the custody of the profit monger the Corrections Corporation of America.

If you break the law that was implemented at the time, you should pay the price. The drug trade has more far reaching consequences than simply being illegal products. There are associated crimes directly attributed to these products that needs to be controlled to protect the community.

People steal to buy drugs, people drive under the influence of drugs and kill other people in the process. Drugs should never be legalized. Alcohol is legal, and look at all the problems we are being faced because of that. Just last week one of my friends died because of alcohol related problems. ^hmmmm^

[QuestionAuthority]

Here's the sad truth for Ulbrich and all people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes. The US has no retroactive clemency, amnesty laws automatically releasing prisoners when the law changes. Presidential or gubernatorial commutations are a PR no-no and almost never done. Even if all drugs af any kind were instantly made legal the previously convicted would remain in the custody of the profit monger the Corrections Corporation of America.

If you break the law that was implemented at the time, you should pay the price. The drug trade has more far reaching consequences than simply being illegal products. There are associated crimes directly attributed to these products that needs to be controlled to protect the community.

People steal to buy drugs, people drive under the influence of drugs and kill other people in the process. Drugs should never be legalized. Alcohol is legal, and look at all the problems we are being faced because of that. Just last week one of my friends died because of alcohol related problems. ^hmmmm^

Yeah, that's one argument I suppose. That same argument can be said about prescription drugs too. Prescription drugs kill around 100,000 people per year in the US. Illegal drug overdoses kill about 17,000. Which one is worse? You could argue that prescription drugs help people but are abused. You could argue that illegal drugs are a personal choice and not pushed on people like prescriptions are. The debate is endless.

The only reality that's indisputable is that governments and government contractors make a ton of money from pandering to pharmaceutical companies and from the "war" on drugs. Remove the criminal nature of drugs and put treatment programs in place instead and you will have a better outcome for everyone. Portugal did it with unbelievable success. Unfortunately, that will never happen because of the amount of money supporting the status quo.

[manselr]

It's an never ending battle. I don't understand why they even bother, no matter how many times you close Silk Road, by the time you catch the guy there are 10 news Silk Roads. Why can't adults take drugs freely? And I don't even drink beer.

[Red-Apple]

It's an never ending battle. I don't understand why they even bother, no matter how many times you close Silk Road, by the time you catch the guy there are 10 news Silk Roads. Why can't adults take drugs freely? And I don't even drink beer.

what are you suggesting? they give up fighting against drugs and the cartel
that never works, it is not just about adults using drugs freely it is mostly about all the crime and other harms that it inflicts on the society.

[eternalgloom]

It might possibly be better for people to buy drugs from home, over the internet, than having people go to street corners, in bad neighborhoods, after dark, to buy drugs.

Yeah I'd say it's a lot safer to buy your drugs online, certainly if you live in the US, where drugs are being sold by people (gangs) who carry guns.
Even in Europe, where drug dealers are less likely to carry guns, you'd probably be safer buying online, since the chances of getting busted are lower by buying online.

I'm saying this based on anecdotal evidence, so it might not be the case that all drug dealers in the US are part of a gang or carry guns, but it just appears to me that buying drugs in Europe is generally safer than buying it in the US.

[Patatas]

We all know that Ross Ulbricht was made an example of and was given a sentence so hard that they thought it will discourage others from following the footsteps of DPR. They were wrong.

NBC news has reported that online drug sales have tripled since the closure of the Silk Road. http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/online-drug-sales-triple-after-silk-road-closure-n627576

This is a link to the study that was made about it. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1600/RR1607/RAND_RR1607.pdf

This could be a silent victory for all the supporters of DPR and deep inside they are laughing at the authorities. I know I am.

The irony is,they're using the same place for all the trades IE tor which is developed by the NSA.You think they're not aware of all the illegal trades that is silk road clones still exists there ? You're wrong!If they want to,they can always bring down the sites but they won't!Its just like Pablo's case US government was well aware of his illegal routes to America,since everyone was getting their cuts,everything was fair!

[bitdumper]

that right insted of being afraid of this incident everyone just looked on the brightside and only see how much profit they got and they are also finding opportinuties and when silkroad got down they take their chances

[LFC_Bitcoin]

We all know that Ross Ulbricht was made an example of and was given a sentence so hard that they thought it will discourage others from following the footsteps of DPR. They were wrong.

NBC news has reported that online drug sales have tripled since the closure of the Silk Road. http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/online-drug-sales-triple-after-silk-road-closure-n627576

This is a link to the study that was made about it. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1600/RR1607/RAND_RR1607.pdf

This could be a silent victory for all the supporters of DPR and deep inside they are laughing at the authorities. I know I am.

Tripled? Jeez, I didn't think stats like that would be possible, might have a little read up on the links you left here