Availability of illicit drugs on the Internet

The Internet is proving an easy gateway for the sale and manufacture of illegal drugs, making their availability and use more widespread. In many cases, the synthetic drugs offered on the Internet are so new that they are legal: the legal process of adding them to the list of controlled drugs cannot keep up with the speed at which they are being created. The Internet also facilitates the manufacture and sale of counterfeit drugs. While illegal drugs are generally classed as illegal because they are considered dangerous, their counterfeits may be even more dangerous. In an attempt to give the impression of quality, counterfeit drugs offered on-line are often stamped with well-known trade marks such as Rolls Royce or Nike. There are websites which publish recipes for new drugs, thus encouraging the uncontrolled production of new synthetic drugs.

Much of the interest in new synthetic drugs can be traced to an American chemist who has published several recipe books for MDMA type drugs.