How Technology Is Helping The Illegal Drug Industry Thrive

How many times a week, or day even, do you hear of a situation in which illegal drugs were involved? Quite often we hear of how well the war on drugs is going. Bust after bust is paraded on the nightly news.

The ungodly amounts of drugs recovered paints the front page of many newspapers and magazines, but there is reason to hesitate on the celebration. If you live long enough, you begin to understand that there are two sides to every coin.

Everything on this planet can be used in a good and a bad way. Technology is not exempt. You will read, below, about three ways technology is making the war on drugs almost impossible to win.

Synthetic Drugs

As if creating drugs from our natural environment weren’t bad enough, for quite a while now, technology is allowing manufacturers to create concoctions from man made chemicals that mimic the effects of the natural. As any business leader would do, they are looking for ways to make a larger profit.

Making synthetics in abundance and charging the same price or more, in some cases, allows dealers to take in a bigger cut which gives them more collateral to flood the market with more synthetic drugs. Of course, this makes the natural drugs the “good stuff” and the price on them skyrockets.

For any of you with the knowledge of a drug addiction, price is not a consideration when you are bidding for your next fix. So, drug users everywhere are buying into the cheaper, more abundant stream of synthetic drugs.

Meet and Greets

Another contribution of technology to the drug world is social media. The days of corner hookups and hideouts are not gone, but dwindling. Social media has provided a new avenue for drug users and dealers to find each other and whatever drug they are looking for.

It is no longer necessary to dangerously search through personal contacts for the drug of your choice. Now, you can leave a message in code and the right people will find you. This makes it ten times harder on the authorities to track down the trail to the deals and dealers.

Not only can a potential customer find what they want easier, they also use social media to set up locations, warn if the location becomes unsafe, and send private invites to illegal parties. Technology is helping in the hunt, but it seems the bad guys got ahead in it’s use.

Image Source: Pixabay

Online Stores

There is nothing like being able to shop online from the comfort of your home. You can even do it in your pajamas, but we aren’t talking about Walmart, here.

Now, the same technological advantage that allows the disabled to shop without worrying about their disability or the lazy average Joe that just doesn’t feel like getting out that day, to order in his underwear is available to every drug addict with a connection to the internet.

There are now online stores that front legal items and instead sale illegal drugs. For example, you may come across an online candy shop. On the site, you may see red licorice for sale. In reality, that might be a cover for methamphetamines. This is incredibly convenient for dealers and users, alike, but disastrous for authorities.

Technology can be a great asset to every part of our lives. Unfortunately, there is a dark side to this privilege and it doesn’t come with cookies.