The purpose of this study is to better understand the online black market economy, specifically relating to stolen data, using crime script analysis. Content analysis of 13 English-and ...Russianspeaking stolen data forums found that the different products and services offered enabled the cornmodification of stolen data. The marketplace offers a range of complementary products, from the supply of hardware and software to steal data, the sale of the stolen data itself, to the provision of services to turn data into money, such as drops, cashiers and money laundering. The crime script analysis provides some insight into how the actors in these forums interact, and the actions they perform, from setting up software to finalizing transactions and exiting the marketplace.
La reciente obra de Fernando A. Flores, Tears of the Trufflepig (publicada en 2019), trata, entre otros temas, la mercantilización y la fetichización de las personas marginadas. La novela describe ...cómo una comunidad indígena previamente extinta, los Aranaña, es devuelta a la vida de forma artificial para enriquecer y expandir el mercado negro global a través del encogimiento y venta de sus cabezas. A través del análisis de cómo estas cabezas reducidas, o tsantsas, son presentadas en la historia, junto al estudio de la representación del Sur de Texas como un vertedero (insinuando que sus habitantes son, por ende, deshechos humanos), este artículo describe el proceso mediante el cual quienes son considerados "redundantes" o incluso "desechables" pueden ser fácilmente transformados en meros bienes de consumo. En última instancia, la historia parece sugerir que, en el contexto del capitalismo neoliberal, no sólo puede asociarse la categoría de 'residuo' a los seres humanos, sino que, aún peor, se demuestra que dicha categorización es un constructo social dependiente de factores puramente económicos.
Sex, Drugs, and Bitcoin Foley, Sean; Karlsen, Jonathan R.; Putniņš, Tālis J.
The Review of financial studies,
05/2019, Volume:
32, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Cryptocurrencies are among the largest unregulated markets in the world. We find that approximately one-quarter of bitcoin users are involved in illegal activity. We estimate that around $76 billion ...of illegal activity per year involve bitcoin (46% of bitcoin transactions), which is close to the scale of the U.S. and European markets for illegal drugs. The illegal share of bitcoin activity declines with mainstream interest in bitcoin and with the emergence of more opaque cryptocurrencies. The techniques developed in this paper have applications in cryptocurrency surveillance. Our findings suggest that cryptocurrencies are transforming the black markets by enabling “black e-commerce.”
This paper examines convergence among cross-country shadow economies. Using the Phillips-Sul (2007, 2009) club convergence approach and data for over 150 countries from 1991 to 2017, the results show ...evidence against absolute convergence for all shadow economies; however, we find evidence of multiple convergence clubs. In particular, we find evidence for seven distinct convergence clubs and six divergent shadow economies. Each club is characterised by an increasingly larger shadow economy with the countries in club 1 having the largest shadow economy and those in club 7 having the smallest shadow economy. Using a two-way fixed effects approach, we also find that the determinants of the shadow economy are somewhat conditional on the convergence club. The existence of multiple equilibria suggests that policy makers in their attempt to combat the shadow economy would benefit by considering the different transitional paths associated with the different convergence clubs.
How cannabis legalization affects users’ behaviors? In this paper, we describe changes in the way users access cannabis in Uruguay before and after the implementation of cannabis regulation. We ...explore the differences between users that access through the legal, black, and gray markets. To do so, we rely on two face-to-face surveys of high-frequency users using the Respondent Driven Sample technique. The first survey was conducted at the beginning of the regulation implementation in 2014, and the second one in 2017. Results indicate that cannabis users gradually moved to the legal market, and most switched to the gray market. Furthermore, users kept acquiring cannabis from the black market even when using legal mechanisms. Considering these results, we argue that the strict regulations imposed in Uruguay may have operated as barriers for consumers to abandon the black market completely. These findings show that the specifics of each legalization policy matter.
Abstract
Objective
Supraphysiologic doses of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are widely used to improve body image and sport performance goals. These substances can easily be acquired over the ...internet, leading to a substantial black market. We reviewed literature that assessed the quality and quantity of AAS found on the black market.
Methods
We searched PubMed/Medline, Embase and Google Scholar for articles published before March 2022. Additional hand searches were conducted to obtain studies not found in the primary literature search. Studies were included if they report on qualitative and/or quantitative analytical findings of AAS from the black market. Primary outcomes were proportions of counterfeit or substandard AAS. Eligible articles were extracted; quality appraisal was done using the ToxRTool for in-vitro studies. We used random-effects models to calculate the overall mean estimates for outcomes. The review protocol has been published and registered in INPLASY.
Results
Overall, 19 studies, which in total comprised 5,413 anabolic samples, met the inclusion criteria, and passed the quality appraisal from two WHO world regions that reported findings, the Americas and Europe. Most studies were nonclinical laboratory studies (95%) and provided samples seized by authorities (74%). In 18 articles, proportions of counterfeit substances and in eight articles, proportions of substandard substances were presented. The overall mean estimate for counterfeit anabolic steroids found on the black market was 36% (95% CI = 29, 43). An additional 37% (95% CI = 17, 63) were of substandard quality. We also demonstrate that these drugs could contain no active ingredient, or in another amount than that labeled, a wrong active ingredient, as well as not all or more active ingredients than were labeled. High heterogeneity among all analyses and significant differences between geographical subgroups were found.
Conclusion
With this systematic review and meta-analysis, we demonstrate that substantial mean proportions of black-market AAS are counterfeit and of substandard quality. These products pose a considerable individual and public health threat, and the very wide range in proportions of fake black-market AAS puts the user in a situation of unpredictable uncertainty. There is a great need for future prevention and harm-reduction programs to protect users from these substances.
•Pharmaceuticals for misuse are mainly sourced by end-users through social networks.•Pharmaceutical drugs are often obtained legitimately from doctors and then misused.•Illegitimate practices like ...doctor shopping are infrequently reported by end-users.•Sourcing via dealers is particularly common among people who use drugs.•Little is known about how pharmaceutical dealers obtain their drug supplies.
The non-medical use (NMU) of pharmaceutical drugs is an increasing public health concern. This systematic review consolidates current knowledge about how pharmaceutical drugs are obtained for NMU and the processes and people involved in diversion.
Peer-reviewed and grey literature databases were searched for empirical studies published between 1996 and 2017 that examined the source or diversion of pharmaceutical opioids, sedatives or stimulants for NMU in countries with reported misuse problems. Pooled prevalence meta-analyses using random effects models were used to estimate the prevalence of medical and non-medical sourcing reported by end-users, and gifting, selling and trading by various populations.
This review synthesizes the findings of 54 cross-sectional studies via meta-analyses, with a remaining 95 studies examined through narrative review. Pharmaceutical drugs are primarily sourced for NMU from friends and family (57%, 95% CI 53%–62%, I2 = 98.5, n = 30) and despite perceptions of healthcare professionals to the contrary, illegitimate practices such as doctor shopping are uncommon (7%, 95% CI 6%–10%, I2 = 97.4, n = 29). Those at risk of diversion include patients displaying aberrant medication behaviors, people with substance use issues and students in fraternity/sorority environments. Sourcing via dealers is also common (32%, 95% CI 23%–41%, I2 = 99.8, n = 25) and particularly so among people who use illicit drugs (47%, 95% CI 35%–60%, I2 = 99.1, n = 15). There is little to no organized criminal involvement in the pharmaceutical black market.
Pharmaceutical drugs for NMU are primarily sourced by end-users through social networks. Future research should examine how dealers source pharmaceutical drugs.
The latest Green Paper on the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) identified the high level of discards in Europe as one of the structural weaknesses of the current CFP. The new CFP introduces a discard ...ban in European waters, with an obligation to land all regulated species. The fishing management system in the Mediterranean is based on effort control and technical measures, and this is raising some particular concerns about the effective implementation of the discard ban. With the exception of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Scombridae), there are no quotas in the Mediterranean and this regulation affects all regulated species with the minimum landing size. Under these circumstances, the discard ban may lead to an increase in the amount of juvenile fish caught, because such catches are not counted against a given quota, as is the case in the Atlantic fisheries, and thus, there is no incentive to avoid catching them. On the contrary, the obligation to land the juveniles that are now discarded and their subsequent fishmeal processing might even become commercially interesting. One possible consequence of the new regulation may be an increase in the illegal marketing of fish below the minimum size. The landing, storage and transportation of juveniles will all be legal, and this may simplify their commercialization via the black market. The discard ban and landing obligation should be accompanied by other measures to ensure their successful implementation, including the agreement of the fishing sector to comply with the rules and regulations.
Medicine smuggling poses a serious public health threat, limiting patients' safe and timely access to this essential resource. Thus, this study aims to identify the factors contributing to the ...vulnerability to medicine smuggling and propose effective strategies to combat this issue in Iran.
An analysis of news media was conducted using qualitative content analysis. News text items related to medicine smuggling were retrieved from various online news sources between March 21, 2017, and May 21, 2023. To select health-oriented and general online news stations, news agencies, and newspapers, the purposeful sampling method with a maximum variation strategy was used. The selected sources included Mehr News Agency, Khabar Online, Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency (ICANA), Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Hamshahri, Donya-e-Eqtesad newspapers, Webda, Sepid Online, and Iran's Food and Drug Administration News Agency (IFDANA). All data coding was manually done using Microsoft Excel software version 2016.
A total of 277 news articles were found to meet the established criteria for inclusion. The analysis revealed four main themes, each with several sub-themes, that shed light on the factors that drive vulnerability and the strategies to combat medicine smuggling. These themes are the economic environment, government and stewardship, information technology systems, and socio-cultural factors. The economic environment emerged as the most significant theme, encompassing medicine selection, reimbursement, and procurement, all of which affect the smuggling of pharmaceuticals in Iran.
To combat medicine smuggling, it is important to adjust policies based on the identified vulnerabilities. Effective strategies to reverse pharmaceutical smuggling include capacity building of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, implementing regulated and enhanced supervisory and rulemaking policies, strengthening health insurance, improving e-infrastructure, and increasing public awareness through collaborative approaches involving various stakeholders within and outside the health system.
Purpose
The desire to increase the athletic performance, to ‘optimize’ an individual’s appearance, and to complement but also to arguably substitute exercise by means of drugs and drug candidates has ...generated a considerable (illicit) market for compounds such as anabolic-androgenic steroids, stimulants, growth promoting peptide hormones, and so on. Genuinely developed for therapeutic use, their abuse/misuse generates enormous health risks, which has necessitated comprehensive controls of compound trafficking by customs and anti-doping authorities.
Methods
From 2012 to 2013, the Bureau of Customs Investigation confiscated products containing anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS; 259 kg), stimulants (13 kg), selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs; 24 kg), and human growth hormone (hGH; 3500 ampules). In cooperation with the Bureau and under the umbrella of the European Monitoring Center for Emerging Doping Agents (EuMoCEDA), the Cologne Anti-Doping Laboratory analyzed an additional 337 (black market) products between 2010 and 2013, allowing to monitor developments in drug use and, hence, the anticipation of new challenges in sports drug testing. Main tools utilized in characterizing confiscated materials were liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS), gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS), and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) with subsequent bottom-up identification of peptidic compounds using nano liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (nanoLC-MS/MS).
Results
Among the 337 substances analyzed in the doping control laboratory in Cologne, 67 active ingredients were found, 49 of which being categorized as doping agents by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). A total of 83.7 % accounted for steroidal substances (predominantly testosterone, trenbolone, and nandrolone and corresponding esters), 12.8 % accounted for peptide hormones and growth factors (predominantly hGH and growth hormone releasing peptides (GHRPs)), 3.2 % of the products contained hormones and metabolic modulators, and 0.3 % accounted for diuretic agents. Outstanding findings were the detection of the selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) LGD-4033, the thymic hormone thymosin β4, and a fusion protein of unknown biological activity.
Conclusions
Trafficking of considerable amounts of arguably performance and/or body-enhancing compounds has been observed during the past 4 years, the majority of which is categorized as relevant to sports drug testing. Several substances are of fake/non-approved nature and represent enormous health risks to the ‘customer’.
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