Online drug sales, just like over-the-counter drug sales, have been on the rise for the past several years, worldwide. Law enforcement crackdowns like the closure of the "Silk Road" website found in the "Deep Web" or "Dark Net" in October of 2013 was supposed to curb this phenomenon. The latest information found by Australia's Sydney Morning Herald shows that sales have continued to explode unabated worldwide. Also, there is information showing that many new online drug-selling websites have not only replaced "Silk Road" online, but have grown far larger and more numerous in its place.

Reasons Why Online Drug Sales Are Growing

The facts are that safety, competition, and anonymity are driving people who wish to buy illegal drugs to this wave of online drug marketplaces. In some locales, the online price is half of what it costs to buy on a local street corner. The Global Drug Survey 2015 polled over 100k people from 50 countries with various questions about how they buy drugs, where they get them, and their motivations for the use of various drugs.

Six years ago, when online drug sales were just beginning, only 5% of respondents to the survey had bought drugs online. In this year's survey, that rate has increased 400% to 25% of all respondents. The annual survey is overseen by Adam Winstock, a British addictions psychiatrist, says that the availability of drugs online does not lead to an increase in the number of people using "social drugs". It has only changed the venue more from in-person to online marketplaces.