Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: kmfkewm on February 11, 2012, 09:22 pm
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1173239/
An international collaboration is needed to stamp out internet trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances around the world, the International Narcotics Control Board has urged.
Some online companies advertise that they can provide prescription drugs without prescription or that their dispensing pharmacy can issue the prescription, said the control board in its annual report. Two internet pharmacies in Bangkok and one in Chiang Mai, Thailand, mainly serving the US market, were closed down between November 1999 and January 2000 after raids by Thai authorities with the close collaboration of US Drug Enforcement Administration. These pharmacies were sending parcels of drugs to US citizens, including many drug addicts, who could not get their prescription from US doctors.
The control board's survey points out that internet drug trafficking has only recently come to the notice of most national authorities, and very few have taken legal action to stem it. "We do not know the amount of internet drug trafficking, but with 600 million internet users at present, we want the governments to take action," said Mr Chinmay Chakrabarty, a member of the International Narcotics Control Board.
The report warned of the potential for errors and misuse of the internet in facilitating medical and pharmaceutical services for large sections of society at low costs. "Substituting direct patient-doctor contact by electronic communication is problematic, particularly concerning the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders and prescriptions of controlled drugs," it said.
Over-consumption of controlled drugs in the developed world was caused by several factors—easy availability, loose regulation, and unethical practices, said the report. On the other hand, there is an undersupply in the developing world of much needed narcotic drugs for legitimate medicinal purposes, such as pain relief.
The report stated that in most countries of Africa the misuse of psychotropic substances seems to be rising. In Asia, the ongoing production of opium in Afghanistan, a leading world producer of opium, and the resultant smuggling of opiates and criminal activities in western Asia, remains a major concern, said the report.
In Europe the availability of drugs and the misuse of synthetic drugs and cocaine are increasing. Europe remains a major source of illegally manufactured amphetamines and amphetamine-type stimulants, especially ecstasy, for the whole world. "MDMA (Ecstasy) of western European origin is increasingly being abused by young people in North America," said the report. It stated that cultivation of highly potent cannabis under laboratory conditions "is spreading in Canada and parts of the US and continues to constitute a major concern to law enforcement authorities."
In the United States the rate of cocaine misuse among adolescents has declined by 14% since from 1998 1999, whereas in Canada, drug misuse among secondary school students is showing an increase, according to some surveys, said the report.