2012-06-18 a-i-r.com - The Silk Road

[julz]

The Silk Road

2012-06-18

http://a-i-r.com/2012/06/the-silk-road/

...
After the funeral it came to light that Elliot had recently turned to buying his drugs online and having them shipped to his door. He had been using an online marketplace known as the Silk Road and a peer-to-peer digital currency service called Bitcoin.
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The currency used to purchase items on the Silk Road is known as bitcoins due to their resemblance to the bit torrent technology used in most online piracy. A user takes real currency and trades it online for bitcoins and then uses this non-currency to make transactions.
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If there is a lesson here for those of us on the front lines of addiction treatment it is this: to stay in the fight we need to be up to speed on the opposition’s newest tricks and tools. We need to understand who is selling drugs to our friends and families, how they are being disguised, and by what circuitous routes these drugs are being delivered. I am not a computer pirate/hacker/expert and this new shady world frightens me – but, forewarned is forearmed.
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[casascius]

By telling everybody about the "opposition", the author has essentially given it free advertising.

Thanks to Susan G., everyone in search of the purest heroin with the least risk of getting caught and the greatest anonymity now knows exactly where to go to get it.

[kiba]

A user takes real currency and trades it online for bitcoins and then uses this non-currency to make transactions.

How dare she call bitcoin a non-currency!

I may not know how the Silk Road works in detail but I understand in theory that drugs are easier to obtain than ever. I understand that to be relevant as a treatment professional I need to understand the tactics of the opposition.

Would you rather have this young man die of a heroin overdose in the privacy of his home or getting shot by a drug dealer or sweeped up by police?

[Raoul Duke]

Propaganda.

And bad one. Who wrote it was so eager to demonize that it couldn't even hold it's own view points.

Like kiba said, Bitcoin was called a non-currency, but in the sentence before that one it seems it was a currency...

The currency used to purchase items on the Silk Road is known as bitcoins due to their resemblance to the bit torrent technology used in most online piracy. A user takes real currency and trades it online for bitcoins and then uses this non-currency to make transactions.

That person was on drugs when that was written lol

Make up your mind, damn it. Or it is a currency or it isn't. You can't have it both ways!

[pekv2]

Not being mean or anything, but how many people fall in the bathtub and die. Or slip on ice and die.

It is the governments that has pushed people to go to silk road. Make drugs legal and then drugs would be properly processed, less deaths and far much less crime would happen.

I wouldn't put the blame on SR/Bitcoin.

[kiba]

Not being mean or anything, but how many people fall in the bathtub and die. Or slip on ice and die.

It is the governments that has pushed people to go to silk road. Make drugs legal and then drugs would be properly processed and far much less crime would happen.

I wouldn't put the blame on SR.

How about this? Government sponsored heroin clinics where this woman could work to treat heroin addict. Best of all, government will subsidize the price of drug, destroying the heroin drug market in the process.

Win-win for everyone, except for organized crime and the prison industry.

[pekv2]

Not being mean or anything, but how many people fall in the bathtub and die. Or slip on ice and die.

It is the governments that has pushed people to go to silk road. Make drugs legal and then drugs would be properly processed and far much less crime would happen.

I wouldn't put the blame on SR.

How about this? Government sponsored heroin clinics where this woman could work to treat heroin addict. Best of all, government will subsidize the price of drug, destroying the heroin drug market in the process.

Win-win for everyone, except for organized crime and the prison industry.

I watched a documentary by vanguard, they interviewed one of the countries over seas, they have these clinics over there. They talked about how much better it was because drugs we legalized. Usage dropped, spread of diseases dropped, crimes dropped, etc.

[justusranvier]

Usage dropped, spread of diseases dropped, crimes dropped, etc.

That's why it will never happen. It would be a catastrophe for all the people whose livelihoods depend on these problems staying in place.

[Kluge]

By telling everybody about the "opposition", the author has essentially given it free advertising.

Thanks to Susan G., everyone in search of the purest heroin with the least risk of getting caught and the greatest anonymity now knows exactly where to go to get it.

Happened when Senator Schumer launched his mini-crusade against the site. SR traffic spiked to the point where SR admin didn't know what to do. Very few people know when they should just shut up (I'm no exception).

"The currency used to purchase items on the Silk Road is known as bitcoins ... A user takes real currency and trades it online for bitcoins and then uses this non-currency to make transactions." Derp.

[molecular]

The silkroad, in my mind, is a good thing.

People don't get killed on silkroad, they don't get dragged into shady circles, they aren't encouraged to become drug dealers and carry guns.

They usually receive good quality because there's broad competition, the dealers actually have a reputation to lose and the customers voices are heard and cannot be silenced.

They have choice so they can actually consume exactly what they want to consume and do not have to put up with the crap the local dealer just happens to have and that might be worse quality or mixed with something the consumer had no intention to consume in the first place.

SR makes the world safer for both sellers and buyers.

So this guy wants to send my children and family to some shady, possibly violent, gun-carrying, not-to-be-trusted local drug-lord? So this guy wants my loved ones to consume some unknown crap that might well contain harmful additives? So this guy wants my children to be exposed to the temptation to sell drugs or commit other criminal acts?

[istar]

So this guy wants to send my children and family to some shady, possibly violent, gun-carrying, not-to-be-trusted local drug-lord? So this guy wants my loved ones to consume some unknown crap that might well contain harmful additives? So this guy wants my children to be exposed to the temptation to sell drugs or commit other criminal acts?

No, this guy does not want drugs to be available at all.

[kiba]

Happened when Senator Schumer launched his mini-crusade against the site. SR traffic spiked to the point where SR admin didn't know what to do. Very few people know when they should just shut up (I'm no exception).

Streisand effect!

Attempt to censor backfire, resulting in unintended massive amount of publicity.

[DublinBrian]

Win-win for everyone, except for organized crime and the prison industry.

And the Treatment and Counselling industries.

If drugs are legal, then theres no pressure on addicts to try to quit, hence no profit for the treatment and counselling industry. Treatment and counselling programs have a very high profit margin. Many addicts are in and out of treatment programs many times, before they finally quit drugs. Addicts familiies can expend tens of thousands of dollars on treatment courses. In fact, the less effective the treatment, the more treatment an addict needs, the more profit the counsellors make.

The writer of the article is profitting from the addicts when they try to quit drugs. Thats why she hates SR.

[Jointops420]

And I think you can buy a shot of naltrexone(sp) for the caring one around to give you if you OD.

[pekv2]

And I think you can buy a shot of naltrexone(sp) for the caring one around to give you if you OD.

Reminds me of pulp fiction. [You want me to jam this into her heart?]