Billions of illegal opioid doses available on dark web every day

The study tracked six major drug markets on the dark web between January and February this year, and found 123,000 unique drug listings in 51 days.

Of those listings, nearly 7400 were opioids.

The study’s lead author, Professor Roderic Broadhurst, said the potent drugs were readily available for dark-web users.

“We are on the brink of a new opioid epidemic driven by synthetics like fentanyl and carfentanil that are driving a greater risk of overdose deaths,” Professor Broadhurst said.

“Accessing these drugs is almost as easy as buying a book on Amazon. Australia is a good market, because Australians pay a premium for drugs.”

Some drugs available on the dark web like carfentanil, which is mainly used on elephants, are 10,000 more powerful than morphine.

On any given day, between 15 and 22 kilograms of the opioid fentanyl were available on the dark web, with prices of up to $300 a gram.

Professor Broadhurst said an average dose of fentanyl was 200 micrograms, meaning billions of doses were available to dark-web users.

“Fentanyl used to be limited to the anesthetic world. It is a powerful, but short-acting knock-out drug, but it has now crept into general use as a recreational opioid,” he said.

“Some users are also addicted from previous pain relief prescription use.”

The study found most of opioids found on the dark web for sale came mostly from China and India before being diverted to countries for sale such as Australia.

“They’re predominantly supplied from big pharmaceuticals in China and India, and they’re diverted from legitimate businesses and made in clandestine labs,” Professor Broadhurst said.

The study’s author said the market place for drugs on the dark was largely unchecked and unregulated, making it easier for criminal syndicates.

“It’s certainly a challenge for law enforcement. The dark web is a bit of a wild west and an underground market,” he said.

“There are fewer sellers selling big amounts and many sellers selling small amounts, and it is such small amounts, it makes it easy to move.

“It is like ants moving houses and terrifically profitable.”

The study’s release comes as an alleged NSW dark web kingpin was charged with fresh offences, two months after he was arrested for operating a wide spread drug network.

Cory Ward, 25, was arrested in February for allegedly posting millions of dollars worth of drugs to customers over the dark web.

Ward was charged with new drug importation offences last week.

Professor Broadhurst said there were increased challenges for police investigating sales of opioids online, with better monitoring services needed.

“The quantities of potent drugs is scaled down. This, combined with the anonymous access offered to both distributors and recreational users makes it very hard to detect and monitor,” he said.