Drugs unlimited : the web revolution that's changing how the world gets high / Mike Power.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Power, Mike (Journalist)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Drug traffic.

Internet marketing.

Electronic commerce.

Computer crimes.

Physical Description:

xix, 316 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Edition:

First U.S. Edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Thomas Dunne Books, 2014.

Summary:

"The very first thing ever bought or sold on the Internet was marijuana, when Stanford and MIT students used ARPANET to cut a deal in the early '70s. Today, you can order any conceivable pill or powder with the click of a mouse. In Drugs Unlimited, Mike Power tells the tale of drugs in the Internet Age, in which users have outmaneuvered law enforcement, breached international borders, and created a massive worldwide black market. But the online market in narcotics isn't just changing the way drugs are bought and sold; it's changing the nature of drugs themselves. Enterprising dealers are using the Web to engage highly skilled foreign chemists to tweak the chemical structures of banned drugs--just enough to create a similar effect and just enough to render them legal in most parts of the world. Drugs are marketed as "not for human consumption," but everyone knows exactly how they're going to be used--what they can't know is whether their use might prove fatal. From dancefloors to the offices of apathetic government officials, via social networking sites and underground labs, Power explores this agile, international, virtual subculture that will always be one step ahead of the law"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Vegetable to Chemical 1

2 The Great Ecstasy of the Toolmaker Shulgin 28

3 The Birth of an Online Drugs Culture 52

4 The Rise and Fall of the Research Chemical Scence 77

5 The Calm Before the Storm, and a Curious Drought 97

6 Mephedrone Madness: the Underground Hits the High Street 117

7 Woof Woof Is the New Meow Meow 149

8 Ready-Salted Zombies and a Chemical Panic 186

9 Your Crack's in the Post 211

10 Prohibition in the Digital Age 238

11 The End of the Road 264.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781250054715

1250054710

1466857749

9781466857742

OCLC:

884439846

Online:

Cover image