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Trends in the Silk Road 2.0

lau.im

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Re: Trends in the Silk Road 2.0

#51

Post by cnp »

meritt wrote: post #46
virmundi wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legalized weed might eat away, but if the market is anything like Colorado, it's too expensive vs dark weed. It's so bad in fact that there are projected budget shortfalls because there are few consumers in the space. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/high-times/marijuana-prices-co... http://khon2.com/2014/04/09/colorado-tax-revenue-on-recreati...

It's worse in Washington. Legal weed is 3x the cost of medical and 6x the cost of street. It still brings in a vast amount of new consumers who won't pursue other methods, but the other methods will not die off until the price is more competitive.

I'd like to point out here that, at least in Seattle, there's only one shop and so prices are going to rise accordingly.

Re: Trends in the Silk Road 2.0

#52

Post by Obi_Juan_Kenobi »

I'm a little disappointed that the author didn't investigate prescription drug sales. Google 'XanaxKing' if you'd like to understand something about how lucrative this trade is, and how popular it is on the deep web. These are professional operations moving significant quantities, so we're missing a major part of the market.

I would also have liked to see some indication of how the data was cleaned or some quality control measures, but understand that this was a quick experiment. More interesting data should surely follow in the second post that analyzes changes over time.

Re: Trends in the Silk Road 2.0

#53

Post by Obi_Juan_Kenobi »

jimktrains2 wrote: post #7
tedks wrote: post #6

It's interesting and probably not surprising that the most popular drug on the Silk Road 2.0 (and probably other darknet marketplaces) is MDMA. MDMA is difficult to find in pure forms and impurities can kill you. If you buy MDMA from a vendor with a 4.9/5 rating, you can be reasonably certain you're getting quality product (comparable to old pressed pills you can hear aging ravers wax nostalgic about) at a fair price…

> MDMA is difficult to find in pure forms and impurities can kill you. If you buy MDMA from a vendor with a 4.9/5 rating Could this be selection bias? If you're dead you can't give a bad rating?

The Marquis reagent is commonly used to test MDMA. It will readily distinguish MDMA from cathinones (aka 'bath salts') which is a common adulterant or substitute. Operations like Dance Safe have popularized this, and the demographic using the deep web seems to be particularly aware of this test and its value.

Re: Trends in the Silk Road 2.0

#54

Post by aaronbrethorst »

cnp wrote: post #51
meritt wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worse in Washington. Legal weed is 3x the cost of medical and 6x the cost of street. It still brings in a vast amount of new consumers who won't pursue other methods, but the other methods will not die off until the price is more competitive.

I'd like to point out here that, at least in Seattle, there's only one shop and so prices are going to rise accordingly.

Two as of tomorrow: http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2014/09/seattles-second-i-...

Re: Trends in the Silk Road 2.0

#55

Post by Evolved »

Obi_Juan_Kenobi wrote: post #53
jimktrains2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> MDMA is difficult to find in pure forms and impurities can kill you. If you buy MDMA from a vendor with a 4.9/5 rating Could this be selection bias? If you're dead you can't give a bad rating?

The Marquis reagent is commonly used to test MDMA. It will readily distinguish MDMA from cathinones (aka 'bath salts') which is a common adulterant or substitute. Operations like Dance Safe have popularized this, and the demographic using the deep web seems to be particularly aware of this test and its value.

Marquis, Mandolin, Mecke and Simon are all sold on DanceSafe and are used to determine only whether a substance contains MDMA (or other similarly desired chemicals) and whether or not it contains PMA and PMMA (undesirable and toxic chemicals). It does not ascertain the quality of such substances nor does it establish concentrations beyond trace amounts. Thank you for your input.

Re: Trends in the Silk Road 2.0

#56

Post by Evolved »

virmundi wrote: post #9
tedks wrote: post #6

It's interesting and probably not surprising that the most popular drug on the Silk Road 2.0 (and probably other darknet marketplaces) is MDMA. MDMA is difficult to find in pure forms and impurities can kill you. If you buy MDMA from a vendor with a 4.9/5 rating, you can be reasonably certain you're getting quality product (comparable to old pressed pills you can hear aging ravers wax nostalgic about) at a fair price…

Legalized weed might eat away, but if the market is anything like Colorado, it's too expensive vs dark weed. It's so bad in fact that there are projected budget shortfalls because there are few consumers in the space. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/high-times/marijuana-prices-co... http://khon2.com/2014/04/09/colorado-tax-revenue-on-recreati...

Is this fundamental attribution error? Perhaps the reason it is more expensive is because it presents much less of a risk to purchase vs. on the street? It could also be that there is not a lot of competition selling legal weed. Maybe it is because street prices have dropped considerably due to the introduction of legal weed?

Furthermore, it should be noted that Colorado's laws also permit growing and gifting marijuana legally. Why buy it when you can grow it yourself or get it for free from someone who grows it? Sure you can only gift/receive/travel with up to 1 ounce legally and one could also make 16 separate visits (pun intended) to a friends house as well.

Perhaps any or all of these are factors in the price or maybe it is overtaxed to the point that people are still willing to obtain theirs the old-fashioned way.

Re: Trends in the Silk Road 2.0

#57

Post by marincounty »

tedks wrote: post #6

It's interesting and probably not surprising that the most popular drug on the Silk Road 2.0 (and probably other darknet marketplaces) is MDMA. MDMA is difficult to find in pure forms and impurities can kill you. If you buy MDMA from a vendor with a 4.9/5 rating, you can be reasonably certain you're getting quality product (comparable to old pressed pills you can hear aging ravers wax nostalgic about) at a fair price…

Ketamine will be popular. Right now they have ongoing medical studies trying to determine it's efficacy. You need to infuse the drug, so it's a hard core drug, but in terms of preventing someone from committing suicide the drug shows promise. (I'm not condoning it, just passing along what Psychaiary is talking about amount themselfs--other than stock picks.)

Re: Trends in the Silk Road 2.0

#58

Post by tomphoolery »

tedks wrote: post #6

It's interesting and probably not surprising that the most popular drug on the Silk Road 2.0 (and probably other darknet marketplaces) is MDMA. MDMA is difficult to find in pure forms and impurities can kill you. If you buy MDMA from a vendor with a 4.9/5 rating, you can be reasonably certain you're getting quality product (comparable to old pressed pills you can hear aging ravers wax nostalgic about) at a fair price…

Even with safe MDMA, the risk of possession carries a far greater weight in a lot of the country than something like weed. So people tend to take more risks, and thus the price is higher. If you could somehow subvert this cost by buying in bulk through a trusted vendor on the Internet, you stand to make some money for your troubles. This is, in my opinion, the most likely reason why SR has large quantities of MDMA and LSD.

Re: Trends in the Silk Road 2.0

#59

Post by Nyr »

xamolxix wrote: post #18
trose wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can test it without ingesting it. With hundreds of reviews I'd hope a few people were smart enough to sacrifice some of their MDMA to test it.

> With hundreds of reviews I'd hope a few people were smart enough to sacrifice some of their MDMA to test it. I guess that it depends on how easy it is to test it. If it requires a chemistry degree and a lab I am guessing they won't test even if they are otherwise smart.

There are professional labs offering free testing in The Netherlands, Spain and other European countries.

Re: Trends in the Silk Road 2.0

#60

Post by hammock »

jimktrains2 wrote: post #7
tedks wrote: post #6

It's interesting and probably not surprising that the most popular drug on the Silk Road 2.0 (and probably other darknet marketplaces) is MDMA. MDMA is difficult to find in pure forms and impurities can kill you. If you buy MDMA from a vendor with a 4.9/5 rating, you can be reasonably certain you're getting quality product (comparable to old pressed pills you can hear aging ravers wax nostalgic about) at a fair price…

> MDMA is difficult to find in pure forms and impurities can kill you. If you buy MDMA from a vendor with a 4.9/5 rating Could this be selection bias? If you're dead you can't give a bad rating?

There exist readily available test kits to check the purity. No consumption necessary. And of course it's just as important to look at the number of ratings. But you're probably being tongue in cheek.
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