Cryptomarkets tap into the very large and profitable market of illegal drugs, estimated to be in the billions of EUR. Some of the hazards (and societal costs) of illegal drug consumption are derived from the lack of quality control of these substances (adulteration and purity imbalances).
This study analyzes the effect of cryptomarkets in the quality of cocaine, comparing worldwide results of analyzed samples sourced from cryptomarkets versus traditional markets. Our findings show that cryptomarkets do not offer a substantially higher quality of cocaine with respect to traditional drug markets and we observe a lack of correlation between price per gram and quality. For both cryptomarkets and traditional markets, the geographical factor was the decisive factor in quality of cocaine.
We also show the inter and intra-country cocaine trade in cryptomarkets and we analyze and quantify the effect of the harm reduction possibilities enabled by cryptomarkets, showing that making an informed purchase has clear benefits in expected drug quality.
