As many of you know, two darknet markets have been seized and taken down by the authorities. Alphabay was first, and many users thought that it was simply an exit scam. However, it came out that it was seized by different government bodies.
Many of Alphabay's users went to the next biggest market, Hansa. Unfortunately, a few weeks later Hansa was also seized by authorities ( and had been controlled and monitored for quite a few days). This was so huge that the Attorney General of the US Jeff Sessions spoke about it during a press conference.
I would suggest steering clear of DNM's for at least a few weeks, maybe longer. There is no telling which market will be the next to fall (and no doubt one will fall in the next coming months).
Now, I want to comment quickly on why I think this move to take down these markets is futile at best.
The first real drug war the United States launched was against marijuana. It started with Richard Nixon, and was continued by the Reagan administration in the 80's and to this present day. The country has spent billions upon billions trying to stop the use of this harmless plant. Where has that gotten them? Nowhere, absolutely nowhere. Weed is being legalized in new states every year, and the majority of Americans have no problem with it. The underlying lesson is this: you cannot stop something that has a constant demand and always will.
So, lets apply this to DNM's. The first real market we saw was the Silk Road a few years ago. That was taken down in late 2014, and what happened next? The Silk Road 2 came out, followed by Silk Road 3, Alphabay, Dream, Hansa, etc. They literally did nothing to stop the use of drugs. Alphabay did more business than Silk Road ever did.
So why haven't the authorities learned their lesson? I don't know the answer to that question to be honest. I guarantee we will see 3 new market places up in the next few months. When those are taken down, more will rise. Mark my words.
To authorities around the world: You are losing.
If there is a drug task force operating in your state, city or county, participate in its hearings or meetings. Find out what they are advocating and whether or not they are taking a balanced approach. The focus now is typically on opioid overdose and the focus is often on treatment and making naloxone more available. You can influence the effort by informing the task force of the harms caused by prohibition and get goals and strategies related to reducing those harms added to the task force recommendations. Here is a link to the Milwaukee City-County Heroin, Opioid and Cocaine Task Force, which I am trying to influence.
https://milwaukee.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=2965576&GUID=0563F682-215F-46EF-B751-663D43F417EC&Options=ID%7CText%7C&Search=161554
Another way to fight the drug war is to counter the addiction as brain disease metaphor. The Brain Disease Model of Addiction (BDMA) theory is used as a justification for the search for a genetic cause for addiction. Please see my article at https://steemit.com/disease/@paulmozina/is-freedom-a-disease. Characterizing a person’s choice to consume a substance as a disease, possibly one with a genetic origin, forms a building block or justification for continuing and expanding the war on drugs, albeit, from a more humane perspective. This approach typically advertises destigmatization of the substance abuser, but rarely if ever include decriminalization of their actions — an important contradiction that needs to be pointed out.