Pubdate: Thu, 25 May 2006 Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) Copyright: 2006 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc Contact: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340 Author: Jason Lott Note: Jason Lott is a Gamble Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He formerly was a visiting research intern in the Evidence and Information for Policy unit of the World Health Organization. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Internet Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hallucinogens.htm (Hallucinogens) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange) A NASTY WEB OF DRUGS The recent trial of a former Temple University graduate student offers a glimpse at the latest, greatest enemy in the war on drugs - the Internet. Last month, jurors convicted Akhil Bansal for illegally selling millions of prescription pharmaceuticals through at least 20 Web sites. The drugs were obtained in India and shipped to the United States for redistribution. The scheme, which involved 16 other coconspirators, attracted more than 4,500 customers, revealing what U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan described as "an unregulated universe from which anyone with access to a computer can purchase just about anything." Although Bansal mostly peddled Viagra, a wide range of illicit drugs, from marijuana to methamphetamine, are available for purchase on the Internet. Most health-care and legal professionals have little knowledge of these virtual street corners despite evidence that increasing numbers of Internet-savvy teenagers and young adults are using the Web to get high. A study published in April in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment found, for example, that more than 11 percent of recovering addicts in an inpatient rehabilitation center had used the Internet to either buy drugs or locate a drug dealer. These data are consistent with earlier reports indicating that illegal painkillers and hallucinogens increasingly are being sold from Web sites. None of this comes as good news to the law-enforcement community, which must grapple with real-life kingpins who use the Internet to attract new clientele, execute encrypted credit-card transactions, and anonymously ship countless packages of drugs to mailboxes across America. Today's drug-smuggling mules are stamped envelopes, not poor Latin Americans, and little has been done to stop the majority of them from reaching their intended recipients. The medical community also has reason to be worried. The Internet not only threatens to increase supplies of traditional street drugs, it also provides fertile ground for the growth of new drugs of abuse and cohorts of addicts. The herb Salvia divinorum, for example, produces hallucinations on par with LSD, but it was relatively unknown before the arrival of the Internet-enabled information age. Now, hordes of teenagers and young adults extol the "mind-altering" properties of this federally unregulated plant, which can be legally bought from thousands of Web sites for recreational use. Animal studies, however, have linked Salvia use to the development of severe depression, and a Delaware couple blames the drug for their son's suicide earlier this year. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has labeled Salvia as a "chemical of concern," while a handful of state legislatures have already outlawed its possession and sale. Unfortunately, Salvia is but one of many unfamiliar substances that are being promoted on the Internet as "legal highs," attracting customers who might otherwise never have sufficient motive or opportunity to abuse drugs. Though no one knows how to stop the Internet from breeding the next generation of addicts, it is clear that the antidrug tactics of yesterday are woefully inadequate. Internet drug lords set up new Web sites as fast as authorities shut them down, and it only takes a quick trip to Google to find them. More thorough postal inspections are possible but are limited by technology, time, cost and concerns over privacy. Old-fashioned police work might nab a few dealers such as Bansal, but many more lurk in the shadows of the Web, clicking their mice and turning profits with little fear of getting caught. Indeed, the advent of Internet drug dealing may shift priorities away from contraband control toward more medically minded objectives of substance-abuse prevention and management, such as needle exchanges, methadone clinics, and promotion of safe or alternative drug use practices. So far, these harm-reduction strategies have been discounted in most drug-policy-setting circles, which have traditionally shown little tolerance or patience for substance abusers and addicts. Total abstinence from illicit drug use has long been the only game in town. However, now that drug dealers have embedded themselves within the keystone of modern information technology, we may be unable to stop them without strictly regulating the content and flow of Internet traffic, a Herculean task of questionable moral and practical value. Accordingly, rejecting a Pyrrhic victory in the war on drugs may mean admitting to ourselves that substance abuse is here to stay. In a world where the Internet has become the drug dealer's best friend, diminishing the demand for drugs - rather than the supply - and helping those who are already addicted pursue meaningful, healthy lives may be the best, and only, options we have left. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake